Johannesburg - There have been no new wage talks between public service unions and government, trade federation Cosatu said on Friday.
"We have not had a meeting," said spokesperson Mugwena Maluleke.
He was responding to reports of secret talks on Thursday night between unions and Public Service and Administration Minister Richard Baloyi.
Maluleke said he was trying to trace the source of the rumours.
"I can speak on behalf of Cosatu that there was no meeting," Maluleke said.
Asked if any meetings had been arranged, he replied: "We are hoping to hear from the government. Our memoranda that we presented at marches yesterday (Thursday) gave the government 24-hours to respond. We are ready to talk."
Government spokesperson Themba Maseko said he could not give outany information. "There is no news yet," he said at noon on Friday.
About 1.3 million public servants, both from Cosatu and the Independent Labour Caucus, entered a tenth day of striking on Friday to push for an 8.6% salary increase and R1 000 monthly housing allowance.
The strike has caused a shutdown of many schools countrywide and the postponement of preliminary matric exams in several provinces.
State hospital services have been severely disrupted, with 49 hospitals requiring assistance from the SA National Defence Force.
The SABC reported on Friday that seven hospitals in Limpopo had been closed down because of the strike.
Health spokesperson Fidel Hadebe said the department could not say how many patients had died as a direct result of the strike.
Gauteng health MEC Qedani Mahlangu could not give numbers either, but did say on Friday morning: "As a mother, I will never forget the things I have seen... the figures (of death) I can't quantify, but I've seen too many corpses. It is a picture I would like to erase."
The Gauteng health department confirmed that two babies died at Natalspruit hospital after being left without food for a long time.
Authorities would not confirm reports from several hospitals countrywide that deaths had occurred as a direct result of the strike.
Hadebe said deaths occurred at hospitals every day and it was difficult to say if these were linked to the strike.
"Every death should be treated as an individual case," he said.
Eastern Cape health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said three infants and two adults had so far died from a lack of medical care caused by the public sector strike.
Aids workers expressed concern that HIV-positive patients were struggling to get access to their chronic antiretroviral medication.
Mortuaries also seemed to be affected by the strike.
The Democratic Alliance claimed on Friday that striking workers at the Hillbrow mortuary were not allowing the identification or removal of bodies.
The home affairs office announced this week that a call centre would be set up to speed up the issuing of death certificates during the strike.
"Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is responding to urgent calls from members of the public who could not receive death certificates to enable them to bury their loved ones, due to the strike action by the public sector unions," department spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said.