Number of Covid deaths reach the grim milestone of six million

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PHILL MAGAKOE/AFP or licensors

The official death toll from Covid-19 reached the six million mark on Sunday according to data from Johns Hopkins University ,

South Africa in particular has been hit hard, counting over 3.5 million infections and just over 99,500 deaths since the start of the outbreak.

"Family is coping. They've accepted it because it's been happening to other families. The only thing we were scared that maybe some of the (family) members might be contaminated and fortunately everybody kept health and we were very cautious since then", said bereaved South African mother Thoko Dube.

Official numbers suggest that South Africa has now administered over 31 million vaccine doses.

It means nearly 50% of the adult population is fully vaccinated.

Most restrictions to prevent the spread of the virus have been lifted.

For some people, such as recently vaccinated Omar Hoosen, this might represent a problem.

"People have become complacent. You see people walking around with no masks, you know? Maybe now the government are going to maybe somehow phase out and say, look here...now, you can walk around without a mask and maybe those who are vaccinated feel like: Why do I have all these social distancing rules and the mask cover up and things like that. So we want to live our life. We want to get back to our lives, you know, and I think...that is why I'm here", said Omar Hoosen.

Wearing masks remains mandatory in South Africa and there are still restrictions on the number of people allowed to attend public gatherings.

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