South Africa recorded 10 017 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, according to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).

"Today, the institute reports 10 017 new Covid-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3 862 165," the NICD said in an update on Wednesday.

According to the government agency, this increase represents a 25.3% positivity rate.

The NICD is a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, which provides laboratory-based surveillance to inform the health response towards Covid-19 in South Africa.

Provincial breakdown

The highest percentage, 39% of the new cases are from Gauteng, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 21%.

The Western Cape accounted for 17% of the new cases, while the Eastern Cape and Free State each accounted for 6%. Mpumalanga and North West each accounted for 3%. The Northern Cape accounted for 2%, and Limpopo accounted for 1% of Wednesday's new cases.

"The proportion of positive new cases/total new tested today [Wednesday] is (25.3%), and is higher than yesterday [Tuesday] (23.0%). The 7-day average is (25.1%) today and is higher than yesterday (24.7%)," the NICD further explained in its update.

In addition, the Department of Health reported 50 deaths and, of these, 10 deaths occurred in the past 24 to 48 hours.

To date, the cumulative Covid-19 deaths total 100 609, with 24 765 642 tests conducted in both the public and private sectors.

Wednesday's update also revealed there had been an increase of 164 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.