Seventy-two percent of people who contracted coronavirus have recovered so far, a slight increase from 71% on Wednesday, the minister of health said on Thursday.

The total number of confirmed cases is 538 184, with 387 316 people having recovered.

Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said 306 deaths had been recorded since the last report on Wednesday. A total of 9 604 people have died of Covid-19.

"Regrettably we report 306 new Covid-19 related deaths: 66 from Eastern Cape, 75 from Gauteng, 78 from KwaZulu-Natal, 46 from Western Cape, 23 from Free State and 18 from Northern Cape," Mkhize said.

The minister's daily statement noted an increase of 8 307 cases on Thursday.

Gauteng had recorded 187 631 cases, still the highest in the country, followed by the Western Cape, where more than a third of deaths have been recorded, KwaZulu-Natal with 90 115 infections and the Eastern Cape with 81 014.

South Africa is the country with the fifth highest number of infections in the world, with only the US, Brazil, India and Russia registering more cases. However, South Africa's death total is significantly lower than all of those nations.