State of play after 400 days of South African lockdown 30 Apr 2021 Mortality: An attendant at Avbob in Pretoria waits for the coffin of a patient who died of illness related to Covid-19. The pandemic has, so far, claimed the lives of 54 237 South Africans. (Marco Longari/AFP) Friday, April 30, marks day 400 since South Africa was placed under a national state of disaster caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Just over a year later, the country has recorded more than 1.5-million infections and 54 237 Covid-19 related deaths. Hit hard by the second wave of infections at the start of the year — a third wave is expected, while South Africa is administering vaccines at a rate slowed by setbacks.