More than 125,000 excess deaths in SA during Covid-19 pandemic

28 January 2021 - 16:50 By iavan pijoos
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The Report on Weekly Deaths in SA showed that the cumulative number of excess deaths from natural causes since May 2020 had reached more than 125,000 by January 23 2021.
The Report on Weekly Deaths in SA showed that the cumulative number of excess deaths from natural causes since May 2020 had reached more than 125,000 by January 23 2021.
Image: Alon Skuy

SA has recorded more than 125,000 excess deaths during the Covid-19 pandemic, a report by the SA Medical Research Council (SAMRC) revealed on Thursday.

According to the report, during December last year and January this year, the numbers of excess deaths increased relentlessly as the second Covid-19 wave hit SA.

The Report on Weekly Deaths in SA showed that the cumulative number of excess deaths from natural causes since May 2020 had reached more than 125,000 by January 23 2021.

But the report revealed that in the most recent week, there had been an apparent decline in the increase.

According to Prof Debbie Bradshaw, chief specialist scientist at the SAMRC and a co-author of the report, the timing and geographic pattern left “no room to question whether this is associated with the Covid-19 pandemic”.

“Unfortunately, it will probably be some years before we have the information about the medical cause of death and so we cannot distinguish between deaths directly associated with Covid-19 and those that may have resulted due to the health system being over-burdened.

“While we are cautiously optimistic that the decrease in week 3 [of 2021] represents a real change and indicates the turning of in-excess mortality in the current wave of the pandemic, the trend will become clearer with the data for week 4, to be released by the SAMRC on February 3,” Bradshaw said.

SAMRC president and CEO Glenda Gray said the council had been tracking mortality for decades, adding that this system has enabled the country to be one of the few middle-income countries able to track excess deaths associated with the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The team is collaborating with the department of health and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) to set up a data linkage project to improve the reports of the numbers of confirmed Covid-19 deaths for the country.”

TimesLIVE


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