Department spokesperson Foster Mohale said the spike in the country’s death toll is due to an ongoing audit exercise by the Department of Health. In the last seven days, South Africa has recorded over 870 Covid-related deaths.
DURBAN – If you have been observing the country’s daily Covid statistics, you will have noted a sudden spike in the number of Covid-related deaths.
In the last seven days, South Africa has recorded 877 Covid-related deaths.
On Thursday, the Department of Health announced that 159 Covid-related deaths were recorded.
However, department spokesperson Foster Mohale, said the spike is due to an ongoing audit exercise by the Department of Health.
He said this could lead to a backlog in the number of mortality cases reported.
While 159 deaths were recorded, Mohale said 51 of those occurred between Wednesday and Thursday.
Mohale said the department is conducting the audits across the country to address the backlog of Covid-related deaths and new cases.
“The provincial Covid-19 dashboards reflect Covid-19 deaths by date of death rather than by date reported, and provides the most accurate trends in deaths in patients with documented SARS-CoV-2 infection,” Mohale said.
According to the latest stats, 5,920 people have tested positive for Covid, taking the country’s cumulative number of Covid cases to 3,546,808 while SA’s Covid-related death toll stands at 92,989.
SA has 106 883 active cases and a recovery rate of 94.4%.
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