'The variant discovered in southern African states has been identified in Israel,' Israel's health ministry said, adding it was recorded 'in a person who returned from Malawi#.
The health department also announced 274 more COVID-related deaths had been reported, bringing the total death toll in the country to 81,461.
The KZN health department's Dr Sandile Tshabalala said they have also started collaborating with influencers to encourage people to get vaccinated.
The 20 countries with the largest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the past week (18 August to 24 August).
KwaZulu-Natal remains the epicentre of the virus, accounting for 29% of the known cases, followed by the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape.
This week Parliament heard that the tourism department wants to introduce a vaccine passport for South Africa, but there are still several international and legislative hurdles.
COVID-19 cases in Limpopo, KwaZulu Natal, the Western Cape and Mpumalanga are being driven by the variant first detected in India.
It's been reported there are special dispensations for those needing to travel for work or business, those studying abroad, sportsmen or women who are required to travel in order to represent the nation and residents needing to access healthcare overseas.
The majority of new cases were from the Gauteng province with 63%, followed by the Western Cape at 11% and the North West at 6%.
The department also reported that 53 people succumbed to the virus in the same period, bringing the country's known death toll to 55, 772.
The health department has confirmed in a late-night statement on Saturday, that the country has 11 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant discovered in the UK, and four cases of the B.1.617.2 variant found in India.
The health department said 1,385 new cases were picked up, which brought the known caseload to over 1,574,000.
These fatalities, recorded over the past 24 hours, bring the country's known death toll to 53,356.
The recovery rate is still at 95%, with 1.4 million people having recuperated.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has once again tightened regulations specifically around liquor sales for the Easter holidays.
As the long weekend approaches, there's been fevered speculation that President Cyril Ramaphosa might opt to increase the lockdown level.
Role players in the hard-hit sector are waiting to see whether President Cyril Ramaphosa could announce stricter lockdown regulations for the Easter long weekend.
The health department said 1,387 new cases have been recorded in the same day, pushing our known caseload to 1,544,000.
