The official number of deaths linked to Covid-19 in South Africa doesn’t reflect the true scale of the crisis, health experts say.
JOAHNNEBSURG - The official number of deaths linked to Covid-19 in South Africa doesn’t reflect the true scale of the crisis, with provinces that have been hit hardest by the outbreak showing a surge in fatalities, health experts say.
Tracking excess mortality is widely seen as way to gauge the full scale of fatalities from Covid-19. It includes those suspected of having the coronavirus who died without having been tested, as well as people who died of other causes after being unable to seek treatment because hospitals were swamped. Neither of those categories would be reflected in the official pandemic tally.
Yet hospitals say they’re buckling under the strain, and the closure of Home Affairs offices during the first stage of a lockdown has led to administrative backlogs and unregistered deaths. South Africa also has the world’s largest HIV epidemic and a high prevalence of diabetes and tuberculosis, which are major causes of death
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