Health authorities said that they aimed to vaccinate over 10 million Gauteng residents.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the decision last month under adjusted level 3 lockdown regulations in a bid to alleviate the pressure the country’s health sector.

The cause of the crash is not yet known.

Over the past four days, technicians have been working to try and fully restore electricity to the area after criminals caused major infrastructure damage.

It's understood the woman was reported missing by her family over the weekend after she failed to return home after visiting the man with her two-year-old child.

The Department said it was preparing a report on irregularities in the 2020 National Senior Certification exams, which would be presented to quality assurance body Umalusi next month.

Forty-five thousand markers were appointed and just over 300 who tested positive for the coronavirus were released.

Director of examinations, Priscilla Ogunbanjo, said that the capturing of marks had now begun.

The journalists were offering Mhlongo a right of reply on separate stories they were publishing last week.

The provincial Education Department said nine marking staff and two departmental officials had been infected since the marking process for the matric exams started earlier this month.

Universities across the country are set to reopen in mid-March.

The minister said all tertiary institutions had aligned their 2021 academic calendar with the release of the matric exams results, which is expected on 23 February.

The minister said funds had been approved to support COVID-19 research and development in areas including diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines.

Lesufi visited Helpmekaar Kollege in Johannesburg earlier following reports that the independent school would be operating on Monday in contravention of the new guidelines.

They say while an agreement was reached to push back the return of pupils, they were never consulted about the early return of school management teams and teachers.

Some pupils in private schools returned to the classroom on Wednesday for the start of the 2021 academic calendar.

Deputy Basic Education Minister Reginah Mhaule said that the Council of Education Ministers together with Cabinet had taken a decision to postpone the reopening of schools for both private and public schools.

South Africans will be eagerly waiting to hear what Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has to say when she addresses the nation on Friday around her department’s plans to reopen schools.