By TimesLIVE - 20 January 2021 SA recorded 839 deaths in the past 24 hours and 9,780 new Covid-19 cases. Image: ALON SKUY SA recorded its highest ever daily Covid-19 death total, with the health department saying this was due to “data reconciliation”. Health minister Zweli Mkhize said on Tuesday night 839 deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours, taking the total national death toll to 38,288. The previous high was 806 deaths recorded on January 13. “The high number reported today is due to data reconciliation as part of the regular auditing process. This includes the analysis of community data taking into account, among others, postmortem swabs, backlogged data and unconfirmed outcomes at facilities,” said Mkhize.