The Minerals Council South Africa's statistics, released on Friday, put the total number of mines at 385 and the number of COVID-19 deaths in the sector at 387.

The council had last month called for miners to cancel their Easter break to mitigate the risk of a third wave of infections, with South Africa's president Cyril Ramaphosa also urging people to limit travel as much as possible and banning takeaway alcohol sales over the break. 

The minerals council resumed issuing daily COVID-19 statistics earlier this year as a second wave of infections impacted the country.

It said on Friday the industry had 473,976 employees and there were 176 active cases.

It put total screenings at 397,191, tests at 134,317 and said there had been 33,277 positive cases, of whom 32,714 had recovered.

The council last week also started including the total number of vaccinations, putting the figure at 946 and noting this was in the phase one round for healthcare workers.

Mineworkers are among the essential workers set to be vaccinated during phase two.

The council and unions have collaborated to run an information campaign encouraging people to get vaccinated when it's their turn. 

South Africa has recorded more than 1.56 million COVID-19 cases and 53,736 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University today.

The country's mining sector was hamstrung during a nationwide lockdown a year ago designed to stem the spread of the global pandemic.