SOUTH AFRICA HITS ONE MILLION CORONAVIRUS MARK

South Africa has passed a dreary milestone in the Covid-19 pandemic, recording more than 1 million affirmed, total infections since the crisis originally hit the nation in March 2020.

Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize announced that the country has recorded 1,004,413 cases, with 9,502 new cases reported on Sunday (27 December).

Deaths in the country have increased by a further 214, taking the total to 26,735.

South Africa's recovery rate has been encouraging, with by far most of those contaminated shedding the infection. There have been 844,874 recoveries to date. Nevertheless, the quantity of active cases has been expanding quickly during the nation's second wave of the infection, moving from around 40,000 several months ago to 132,804 starting on 27 December.

By Chwayita Hlangwana