SA'S COVID-19 DEATH TOLL CLOSES ON 45,000 AFTER 547 MORE FATALITIES RECORDED

These latest fatalities, recorded over the past 24 hours, bring the country's death toll since the start of the pandemic to 44,946.

A morgue attendant at the Johannesburg branch of the South African funeral and burial services company Avbob check the condition of a protective wrapping inside a refrigerated container where bodies of patients deceased with COVID-19 related illnesses are kept isolated ahead of their burials on 22 January 2021. Picture: AFP

Tara Penny 

JOHANNESBURG - Five hundred and forty-seven more people have died in South Africa after contracting the coronavirus.

These latest fatalities, recorded over the past 24 hours, bring the country's death toll since the start of the pandemic to 44,946.

According to the Health Department, 2,649 new infections were also picked up, bringing the country's known caseload to 1,459,000. Gauteng still accounts for the largest concentration of these infections, followed by KwaZulu-Natal and then the Western Cape.

The recovery rate is hovering at around 90%, with 1,318,000 people having recuperated so far.