South Africa leads Covid deaths in Africa – by far

South Africa Covid-19

A health worker records details of a woman before testing her for Covid-19 at the Fourways Life Hospital in Johannesburg on June 28, 2021. South Africa has crossed the threshold of 60,000 Covid-19 deaths. PHOTO | AFP

Scientists are still working out why South Africa, of all African countries, should have been so hard-hit by Covid-19.

It is not just that South Africa has now over 100,000 known or ascribed Covid deaths, but that it also has over 306,000 "excess natural deaths", many expected to have been undiagnosed Covid-deaths, others caused indirectly by the pandemic by preventing timely treatment, or even any treatment, for a range of other fatal conditions.

This means the real death toll in S Africa from the Covid pandemic to date is arguably over 400,000 – by far Africa's highest toll.

Africa's circumstances, population profile and related demographics do little to nothing to explain the relatively low numbers reported elsewhere in Africa, as compared to South Africa's figures.

One argument is that most Africans have stronger immunity than perhaps that of their Eurasian or North America counterparts, but that point is contradicted in communities with strong African genetic heritage but also with higher than average rates of infection.

This was evident in the USA, where black and Latino people were more likely to die or have severe disease than Americans in other demographics.

And runaway infections in several South American countries argues against the issue being one of 'which hemisphere, north or south'.

One factor likely to contribute to the evident gulf between South Africa and other African states hit by the pandemic is that South Africa has the most developed health system, and system of recording health events, on the continent.

In this assessment, South Africa simply observed and treated more cases than even close neighbouring states, and more deaths associated with Covid were also therefore recorded.

The current death toll for the next dozen most Covid-affected African states are:

Tunisia         28533

Egypt           24613

Morocco       16064

Ethiopia          7510

Algeria           6875

Kenya             5649

Zimbabwe       5468

Sudan             4930

Namibia          4022

Zambia           3973

Uganda          3596

Nigeria           3143