Deaths from South Africa’s Covid-19 revival may have been at an all-time high

Photographer: Michele Spatari / AFP / Getty Images

sign up to our Next Africa newsletter and continued Bloomberg Africa on Twitter

The number of people dying from Covid-19 at the time of relapse of the disease may have been at an all-time high, according to a report of overweight deaths published by the South African Medical Examination Council.

The number of additional deaths, a measure of mortality above what would normally be expected from natural causes, fell to 13,374 in the week ending Jan. 23 from the previous week’s 15,486 mark, the SAMRC said in a reported Thursday.

The SAMRC said an additional 125,744 deaths have been recorded since May 3 in South Africa. That compares with an official death tax of 42,550, the highest number in Africa.

“It may be several years before we have the information about the medical cause of death so we cannot differentiate between Covid-19-related deaths and those that may be due to that the health system is overburdened, ”said Debbie Bradshaw, chief scientist at the SAMRC and co-author of the report, in the statement.