South Africa’s Excess Deaths Surge as Virus Spreads Like ‘Wildfire’

Healthcare workers and members of the community form an honor guard to mark the service and commitment of their colleague, Duduzile Margaret Mbonane, who died from COVID-19, during her funeral in Thokoza east of Johannesburg, South Africa on July 23, 2020. Themba Hadebe/AP

JOHANNESBURG—Global hot spot South Africa is seeing a “huge discrepancy” between confirmed COVID-19 deaths and an unusually high number of excess deaths from natural causes, while Africa’s top health official said on July 23 the coronavirus is spreading there “like wildfire.”

A new report by the South African Medical Research Council, released late on July 22, shows more than 17,000 excess deaths from May 6 to July 14 as compared to data from the past two years, while confirmed COVID-19 deaths are 5,940.