South Africa on Thursday reported 21,584 new COVID-19 infections, the highest daily figures in six months, health authorities said, bringing the overall caseload to over 1.9 million.

A further 382 COVID-19 related deaths pushed the total number of fatalities to 61,029, according to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD).

The country, currently undergoing a third wave of infections, reported 19,506 cases and 383 deaths on Wednesday.

The NICD said most of the new cases are from Gauteng province, which includes the capital Pretoria and largest city Johannesburg, accounting for 59% of infections, followed by the Western Cape province with 11% and the North West province with 7%.

South Africa, with a population of nearly 60 million, has the highest COVID-19 caseload and death toll on the continent.

More than 3.02 million people in the country have received their first doses, while nearly 480,000 have been fully vaccinated, according to Our World in Data, a tracking website affiliated with Oxford University./aa