South Africa on Friday reported 3,648 new COVID-19 infections from tests conducted over the past 24 hours, taking the country's total caseload to 2,877,063.

In the same period, 173 new fatalities were registered, taking the total death toll to 85,952.

South Africa is the hardest-hit country by the pandemic in Africa.

It accounts for 35.42 percent of the continent's virus load so far and 41.75 percent of its deaths.

Gauteng Province has registered the highest number of infections and fatalities in the country, with 913,513 confirmed cases and 19,174 deaths.

KwaZulu Natal province has recorded 505,567 infections with 14,170 deaths, while Western Cape province has registered 505,307 cases with 19,465 fatalities.

In efforts to contain the spread of the virus, the government has embarked on a rigorous mass vaccination campaign.

By Friday, 15,913,116 vaccine doses had been administered in the country.