ABUJA, Nigeria 

South Africa registered thousands of new coronavirus cases and hundreds of fatalities late Wednesday.

Cases registered just below 395,000 in the past 24 hours, according to health ministry data.

Fatalities rose to 5,940 with 572 new deaths and 229,175 people recovered from the virus.

Since originating in China last December, the COVID-19 pandemic has claimed more than 620,000 lives in 188 countries and regions.

More than 15 million cases have been reported worldwide, while an excess of 8.5 million patients have recovered, according to figures compiled by US-based Johns Hopkins University.