Not just a number: families of five Australian pandemic victims reflect on loss during Covid

As Australia nears 10,000 Covid deaths, five families share their memories of loved ones lost to the pandemic. Composite: Guardian Australia

The number of Australians who have died from Covid passed 10,000 on Sunday.

While the country’s death rate is substantially lower than many other developed nations, it is nonetheless a staggering figure that represents the heartache of so many families, and omits many deaths that were linked to the pandemic in other ways.