As the COVID-19 pandemic sweeps across South Africa at a frightening rate, authorities have been preparing an array of responses: field hospitals, oxygen supplies, triage centres and expanded morgues and cemeteries.
But while many hospitals are crowded with patients, and while the country suffers the world’s fourth-highest number of new daily cases, the mortuaries and grave sites appear to be much slower to fill. It’s one of the enduring mysteries here: why do South Africa, and most other African countries, seem to have a relatively low death rate from the virus? And can this low rate be sustained?
But while many hospitals are crowded with patients, and while the country suffers the world’s fourth-highest number of new daily cases, the mortuaries and grave sites appear to be much slower to fill. It’s one of the enduring mysteries here: why do South Africa, and most other African countries, seem to have a relatively low death rate from the virus? And can this low rate be sustained?