South Africa reports 14,728 new COVID-19 infections, 384 new deaths

Citizens wait in the queue at Mitchell's Plain CHC to receive the COVID-19 vaccine on July 31, 2021 in Mitchell's Plain, South Africa. ( Photo by Brenton Geach / Gallo Images via Getty Images)

South Africa's health ministry on Wednesday reported 14,728 daily new COVID-19 infections, taking the country's total number of cases to 2,638,981.

The ministry also reported 384 deaths, taking the total number of virus-related fatalities to 78,377.

The country is the hardest-hit by the pandemic in Africa, accounting for 35.88 per cent of the continent's caseload and 42.20 per cent of its fatalities.

Gauteng province has registered the highest number of cases and deaths, with 892,734 infections and 18,269 fatalities.

The Western Cape and Kwa Zulu Natal provinces are also hard hit, each having reported more than 400,000 COVID-19 cases.

The Western Cape Province has recorded 17,091 deaths while Kwa Zulu Natal has 12,768.

South Africa however boasts of a 91 percent recovery rate, as 2,402,020 patients successfully recovered from the disease. Active cases stood at 158,584.

The government is undertaking a nationwide vaccination campaign in efforts to contain further spread of the virus.

By Wednesday, 9,962,111 vaccines had been administered.