Covid-19 has killed more than 5 million people worldwide

Covid-19 has killed at least 5.962,297 since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP tally based on official sources on Wednesday. 

The United States has recorded the most Covid deaths with 952,509, followed by Brazil on 649,630, and India on 514,246. 

Taking into account excess mortality linked to Covid, the WHO estimates the true death toll could be two to three times higher. 

In South Africa, the department of health reported 28 deaths, and of these, 5 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 99,458 to date. 

The country has also reported 1,995 new Covid-19 cases that have been identified in the past 24 hours, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3.677 686.  

This increase represents a 7.5% positivity rate, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, announced.  

The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng Province (37%), followed by Western Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal, each accounting for 21% and 17%, respectively. Mpumalanga accounted for 6%; Free State and North West each accounted for 5%; Eastern Cape accounted for 4%; and Limpopo and Northern Cape each accounted for 2% of today’s new cases. 

There has been an increase of 55 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours. 

Covid-19: Latest global developments

– Hong Kong chaos – 

Hospitals are swamped and supermarket shelves empty as Hong Kong battles its worst Covid outbreak to date with plans to test the entire population and isolate everybody infected. 

– US warns against HK travel – 

The United States warns citizens against travelling to Hong Kong, citing the risk of children who test positive being separated from their parents. 

– New Zealand protests – 

New Zealand anti-vaccination demonstrators set alight their own protest camp outside parliament after riot police move to end their weeks-long occupation of the legislative precinct. 

ALSO READ: China could eventually ‘co-exist’ with Covid-19

– Australian PM infected – 

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison tests positive for Covid-19 but says he will carry on working at home despite having “flu-like” symptoms. 

– Filipinos throng churches – 

Thousands of Filipinos flocked to churches to observe Ash Wednesday, with Catholic priests and nuns daubing their foreheads with a cross for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.  

– Mental health warning – 

The pandemic has taken a dire toll on mental health, the World Health Organization says, indicating that cases of anxiety and depression had swelled by over 25 percent globally. 

Additional reporting by AFP