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By IOL Reporter 
8h ago
Cape Town – South Africa has recorded 2,646 new cases and 86 more cases related to Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, the Department of Health said on Saturday.
Of the 86 recorded deaths, 58 occurred in the Eastern Cape, 17 in the Free State 17, 9 in the Western Cape 9 and 2 in KwaZulu-Natal.
The cumulative number of coronavirus cases in the country now stands at 765,409, of which 36,780 are currently active cases.
Case data by province
Of the new cases registered on Saturday, 1,345 are from the Eastern Cape. The province also has the highest number of active cases, a whopping 10,412.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Friday expressed concern about the high number of new cases in the province.
With 6,826, the Western Cape currently has the second highest number of active cases, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 6,021.
Data test
“The cumulative number of tests performed to date is 5,269,062 with 26,007 new tests performed since the last report,” Mkhize said on Saturday.
Recoveries and deaths
To date, 707,784 patients have recovered from the virus and the recovery rate remains stable at 92.5%, Mkhize said.
The 86 deaths recorded on Saturday bring South Africa’s death toll from Covid-19 to 20,845.
Of the 86 deaths, 22 reportedly occurred in the past 48 hours: 13 in the Eastern Cape, 8 in the Western Cape and 1 in KwaZulu-Natal, according to the Health Minister.
Race to ensure access to the vaccine
President Xi Jinping has assured world leaders that China, which has five vaccines in the Phase III trial, is ready to step up global cooperation on the Covid-19 vaccine.
“China is willing to strengthen cooperation with other countries in vaccine research and development, production and distribution,” Xi said at the G20 virtual summit to be hosted by Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, fears mount that poorer countries will be left behind when vaccines are ready for deployment. The world health organization has championed a program called COVAX that will govern how the vaccine is distributed. However, rich countries have already struck deals with major drug manufacturers for millions of doses.
MESS
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