COVID-19 deaths in South Africa: 99 days since South Africa's first death

• Published in: South African medical journal 2020-11, Vol.110 (11), p.1093
• Main Authors: Wyk, V. Pillay-van, Bradshaw, D, Groenewald, P, Seocharan, I, Manda, S, Roomaney, R.A, Awotiwon, O, Nkwenika, T, Gray, G, Buthelezi, S.S, Mkhize, Z.L
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Casualties; COVID-19; Epidemics; Patient outcomes; South Africa; Statistics
• ISSN: 0256-9574
• DOI: 10.7196/SAMJ.2020.v110i11.15249

Background. Understanding the pattern of deaths from COVID-19 in South Africa (SA) is critical to identifying individuals at high risk of dying from the disease. The Minister of Health set up a daily reporting mechanism to obtain timeous details of COVID-19 deaths from the provinces to track mortality patterns. Objectives. To provide an epidemiological analysis of the first COVID-19 deaths in SA. Methods. Provincial deaths data from 28 March to 3 July 2020 were cleaned, information on comorbidities was standardised, and data were aggregated into a single data set. Analysis was performed by age, sex, province, date of death and comorbidities. Results. SA reported 3 088 deaths from COVID-19, i.e. an age-standardised death rate of 64.5 (95% confidence interval (CI) 62.3 - 66.8) deaths per million population. Most deaths occurred in Western Cape (65.5%) followed by Eastern Cape (16.8%) and Gauteng (11.3%). The median age of death was 61 years (interquartile range 52 - 71). Males had a 1.5 times higher death rate compared with females. Individuals with two or more comorbidities accounted for 58.6% (95% CI 56.6 - 60.5) of deaths. Hypertension and diabetes were the most common comorbidities reported, and HIV and tuberculosis were more common in individuals aged