I think it's been a worldwide phenomenon outside of a few countries that handled COVID well. In South Africa the amount of death in the first three or four waves was staggering. I saw people dying in shipping containers and tent hospitals in parking lots and fields when I received medical treatment for my spinal issues. Then riots broke out (about a seperate issue) which just made the COVID spread even worse and supercharged one of the waves.
Everyone has just moved on from the mass death as if nothing happened. No masks anymore, no precautions. And it's not like COVID went away, it's still here. Even though it's killing way less people to the point it's not outside of the upper bounds of pre-COVID excess mortality, it's still killing people. And the only reason the deaths are so low now is probably because almost everyone vulnerable to the disease in South Africa is already dead. Over 300 000 people died over two years in a country with a population of 60 million. Which is a horrifying conclusion.
https://www.groundup.org.za/article/debunking-myth-africa-responded-well-to-covid/
https://www.samrc.ac.za/research-reports/report-weekly-deaths-south-africa