South Africa recorded 9 149 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 infections and 100 deaths, bringing the death toll to 57 410 on Thursday.

According to a statement by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), as of Thursday, the country recorded 1 722 086 laboratory confirmed cases.

Gauteng is leading with 489 711 confirmed cases, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 342 291 and the Western Cape at 298 743.

"South Africa technically entered the third wave today [Thursday] as the national seven-day moving average incidence [5 959 cases] now exceeds the new wave threshold as defined by the Ministerial Advisory Committee [MAC].

"The MAC advisory defined the new wave seven-day moving average threshold as 30% of the peak incidence of the previous wave," said NICD spokesperson Sinenhlanhla Jimoh.

Jimoh added there was an increase of 844 admissions in the past 24 hours and 127 additional in-hospital deaths.

South Africa has conducted 12 044 072 tests and the recovery rate is currently at 92.5%, which translates to 1 593 059 recoveries.