South Africa has announced 572 new coronavirus-related deaths, a record daily tally that brought its total number of fatalities to 5,940, Al Jazeera has reported. But its recorded death toll has so far been low, at 5,940 deaths or less than 1.5 percent of cases. Debbie Bradshaw, chief specialist scientist at the government-funded research council, said the figures revealed “a huge discrepancy” between the confirmed COVID-19 death toll and the number of excess natural deaths. President Cyril Ramaphosa implemented a tough lockdown at the end of March, shutting shops, requiring people to stay at home and sending the army on to the streets to enforce it back when South Africa had only 400 recorded cases. Ramaphosa said this month that scientists had predicted up to 50,000 deaths in South Africa, a figure which seems possible based on Thursday’s findings by the council.

Source: The Star July 23, 2020 09:45 UTC