Karim attributes SA's low COVID-19 death rate to early prep, younger population
According to the Health Department, 15,447 people have died after contracting the virus since March.
by Mia LindequeJOHANNESBURG - Chairperson of South Africa's COVID-19 Ministerial Advisory Committee, Professor Salim Abdool Karim said that the country's low coronavirus mortality rate could be attributed in part to early preparations and a younger population.
According to the Health Department, 15,447 people have died after contracting the virus since March.
Some experts, however, believe that this number may be under-reported compared to international trends.
Karim said that he also thought that more efforts should have been put into protecting the elderly against the virus.
"We knew that the elderly were high risk but we were still seeing fairly large numbers of deaths with the elderly and I think we could have done more to prevent that."
South Africa is now listed 8th on the global list of COVID-19 infections compared to other countries having been overtaken by Mexico, Colombia and Peru.