The resurgence of cases in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro is largely the driving force behind the new cases found in the Eastern Cape.

For the first time on Monday, the provincial health department released its daily epidemiological report which it said would be made public every day going forward.

The report analysed Covid-19 data available to the department as of 23:00 on 15 November.

It showed that in the preceding 24 hours, 74% of new cases were from the Nelson Mandela Bay metro and the Sarah Baartman district. The district surrounds the Nelson Mandela Bay metro.

According to newly instituted criteria from the national Department of Health, a resurgence is when a province or district shows an increase of more than a 20% in new cases when daily cases are mapped on a seven-day moving average.

In the first two weeks of November, the Eastern Cape saw an increase in the positivity rate from 20% to 26% and it is now up to 34.5%. This, the Eastern Cape health department report said, represented a "rapid increase of cases".

Between 1 and 16 November, there were a reported 12 318 Covid-19 cases in the province and 405 deaths.

Acting Eastern Cape health superintendent Dr Sibongile Zungu said during a press briefing with Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Sunday night that doctors who were part of the "Cuban brigade" would be taken from "quitter districts" in the province and sent to hospitals in the metro to assist.

Zungu said that at Livingstone and Dora Nginza hospitals, extra beds were being made available.

Mkhize is expected to visit the province on Tuesday.

News24 reported on Monday that hospital admissions data showed that seven of the 10 worst-performing hospitals, when the number of deaths were compared to overall admissions of Covid-19 patients, were in the Eastern Cape.

"In the past 24 hours, 626 (78.4%) of the newly reported cases were from the Nelson Mandela Bay metro and Sarah Baartman [district], 148 (18.5%) were from Buffalo City metro [and] the Chris Hani and Amathole districts," the report read.

"Of all the active cases (9 460), about 8 481 (89.7%) cases were from [Nelson Mandela Bay] metro and Sarah Baartman, 826 (8.7%) were from [Buffalo City] metro, Chris Hani and Amathole," it added.

The report also highlighted a shift in the age group of people who tested positive.

"Most of the people who tested for [Covid-19] were between the age of 20 and 39 years, the economically active age group populations. There is a shift, which occurred from schoolgoing age persons, being 10 to 19 years, to the 20 years and above population."

"The seven-day-moving average shows an increase in the positivity rate from 20% on 1 November to 28.5% on 14 November," the report stated.

"This indicates that there was a rapid increase in the daily positivity rate during this period."

The number of daily tests, on average, also increased from 2 100 to 2 700 tests per day which results in 22 tests per 100 000 people per day, to 63 tests per 100 000 people per day.

The report also identified significant clusters seen in the province over the past few weeks. The largest clusters were in universities, including Fort Hare's East London campus (94 cases), Nelson Mandela University (16 cases) and Rhodes University (48) cases.

"The resurgence…is driven by poor compliance with the regulations by the communities. This includes a failure to wear masks in public, a lack of social distancing or routine handwashing or sanitisation," the report also stated.

"The unbanning of selling of liquor and opening of the taverns, unsupervised funerals have become health risks which may contribute to the spread of the disease," the report added.