There were 7,983 new Covid-19 cases and 299 coronavirus-related fatalities recorded in SA in the past 24 hours, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said on Monday.

For the first time since the start of the third wave of the virus, Gauteng is not among the top three hardest-hit provinces.

Instead, the Western Cape (2,119 cases), KwaZulu-Natal (1,949 cases) and the Eastern Cape (1,438 cases) all surpassed Gauteng's 694 confirmed infections.

The new cases and deaths mean that 2,613,569 infections have been recorded to date, along with 77,440 fatalities.

According to the NICD, there was an increase of 331 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours, meaning that 14,040 are now being treated in hospital for Covid-19 related illnesses.

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