Johannesburg, Jun 19 (IANS): South Africa has deployed military personnel in hospitals in the province of Gauteng to help fight against a latest Covid-19 resurgence, said Acting Health Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane.

The Mnister told reporters on Friday that the South African National Defence Force medics would move into hospitals and areas where healthcare practitioners are needed.

"We have requested additional capacity to assist Gauteng in terms of military health that has moved into the province to assist us swiftly. What this will do is we will be able to release the capacity of the beds that have been held because there was no human capacity," Kubayi-Ngubane said.

The Minister also said that military members would assist with Covid-19 tracing and testing.

Gauteng is currently the country's epicentre, accounting for 60 per cent of the total cases registered amid the third wave of the pandemic.

South Africa recorded 10,510 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, representing a positivity rate of 20.5 per cent and increasing the overall infection tally to 1,796,589.

The death toll stood at 58,441.