An elderly man in KZN passed away on Tuesday from long-term diabetes and kidney failure complications. Today the mortuary where his body is being kept asked for a "COVID certificate" from the hospital to show he hadn't died from COVID...
The government hospital where he died said they had not taken the test before admission, even though regulations mandate it. Now, because he had been transferred from a local clinic, the family asked the clinic about it. The clinic said they only did a COVID screening, no test
Prior to going to the government clinic, the man had been treated at a nearby private hospital a few days before going to the clinic, so the family approached the private hospital for COVID test results. The hospital said he had no COVID symptoms so there was no need for a test
Back at the mortuary, the family gets told today that because they do not have a "COVID negative certificate" this will be treated as COVID death. The body will be put in a bag and the casket wrapped in plastic. Tomorrow must be a "COVID funeral"
Along with the documents issued by the mortuary, they also gave the family a "confidential" document to be submitted at Home Affairs. It's contents are unknown to the family, only that they need to submit it for the death certificate is issued

Just another COVID-19 death, then.
This has been a running joke for a while, but it seems it's true that whatever way a person dies, if there's no "COVID negative" certificate it is recorded as a "COVID death"

Perhaps it would be helpful for the Ministry of Health to clarify which is which when releasing numbers?
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