Covid-19 update: SA records 6,590 new cases

On Tuesday, South Africa reported 6,590 new Covid-19 cases.

The figures were released by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service responsible for monitoring Covid -19.

According to the institute, this takes the number of laboratory confirmed cases in South Africa to 2.546,762, representing an 18.8% positivity rate.

“As per the National Department of Health, a further 189 Covid-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 75,201 to date,” the institute reported.

A sum of 15.323,659 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors. 

Covid-19 deaths in SA likely much higher than reported

A cursory look at the latest report on weekly deaths in SA, published by the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) in collaboration with the University of Cape Town’s Actuarial Research unit, calls attention to the increase in deaths in SA to unprecedented levels.

It immediately shows up an anomaly between government’s official figures of Covid-19 deaths and thousands of other unusual deaths.

The latest figures from the Department of Health – issued on Friday (August 6) – show that 74 352 people lost their lives due to Covid-19 since the first reported deaths at the end of March 2020, but the SAMRC says there have been 222 500 “excess deaths” from natural causes since May 3, 2020.

ALSO READ: Ekurhuleni sub-districts record spike in Covid-19 deaths

The report states that there is no universal definition, or understanding, of what is meant by excess mortality, explaining it as a “term used in epidemiology and public health that refers to the number of deaths that are occurring above what we would normally expect”.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) uses the term to describe mortality above the expected mortality rate, when there isn’t a crisis causing unusual deaths.

During a crisis, whether a violent uprising or a pandemic, the deaths above this normal death rate would be classified as excess deaths.

Additional reporting by Money Web