Why No Country Is Safe From the Delta Variant Excess deaths, seen as a more precise way of measuring total fatalities from the coronavirus, rose to their highest level since January in South Africa as the delta variant spread to all of the country’s nine provinces. In the week ended June 27, the country recorded 5,228 deaths compared with 1,729 official deaths from the virus, the South African Medical Research Council said in a report Wednesday. The number of deaths, which is measured against a historical average, was the highest since the week ending Jan. 24 and compared with 4,145 the week earlier. The surge in deaths is being driven by a severe third wave of infections in Gauteng, the industrial hub that includes Johannesburg and Pretoria. Excess deaths in Gauteng rose to a second consecutive weekly pandemic-era record with the province where one in four South Africans live […]