Backlog sees 500 Covid deaths reported on Thursday
More than 500 Covid related fatalities were reported on Thursday night.
While this looks like a massive increase, compared to the numbers seen in previous days, the Department of Health (DoH) says the staggering figure was due to an ongoing audit exercise conducted by provinces across the country to address a backlog of Covid-19 mortality and new cases.
Out of the 551 deaths recorded, only 45 occurred in the latest 48-hour reporting period.
“Provinces like the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal account for476 historical combined deaths in patients with documented SARS-Cov-2 infection,” said DoH spokesperson Foster Mohale.
“The identification of these historic deaths is part of the process to align the provincial death line list with excess deaths.”
Meanwhile, 9860 new cases were reported in the 24-hours leading to Thursday.
This represents a 21% positivity rate.
The majority of new cases were reported in the Western Cape with 27%, followed by Gauteng with 22% and KwaZulu-Natal accounted with 21%.
The country’s cumulative cases sit at 3 504 554.
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