Covid symptoms mild in South Africa compared to earlier waves: report

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there has been a 255 percent increase in COVID cases in South Africa in the past week, driven by the super mutant Omicron variant, but the infection is showing milder symptoms than in the previous three waves.

According to the WHO, Africa currently accounts for 46 percent of Omicron cases worldwide, while the variant has spread to nearly 60 countries so far.

DailyMaverick reported that NetCare, South Africa’s largest private healthcare provider, revealed that with the recent increase in infections, which include Omicron and Delta variants, there has been little increase in admissions to intensive care beds.

NetCare’s Richard Friedland was quoted as saying by the South African Daily, “After seeing many of our patients in person at our Gauteng hospitals, their symptoms are far milder than anything we experienced during the first three waves. “

“Currently, about 90 percent of the COVID-19 patients in our hospitals do not require any form of oxygen therapy and are considered emergent cases. If this trend continues, it appears, tertiary care may be needed. With few exceptions, the fourth wave may be adequately treated at the primary care level,” he said.

According to Friedland, “all patients presented mild to moderate flu-like symptoms, including a blocked or runny nose, headache and a rash or sore throat”.

During the first three waves, the overall community positivity rate reached 26 percent across South Africa.

Read | Gujarat confirms two more Omicron cases, reaches 3

Friedland said that in the first three waves of the pandemic, NetCare treated 126,000 COVID-19 patients, of whom 44 percent required admission and 26 percent were treated in higher care and intensive care units.

“Importantly, all admitted COVID-19 patients were ill and required some form of oxygen therapy. High admission rates, as well as a high percentage of patients requiring ICU or higher care, were reported after the first three waves. This is an indication of the seriousness of the cases,” he added.

But, now 337 Kovid-19 positive patients are admitted in the hospital. Of these, about 10 percent (33 patients) are on some form of oxygen, compared to 100 percent in the first three waves.

In addition, eight patients (2 percent) are being ventilated and two of these are primary trauma cases who are also COVID-19-positive, Friedland said.

“Currently 337 patients represent a fraction compared to previous waves,” Friedland said.

“While the very rapid increase in community transmission compared to previous waves may partly explain this relatively low hospital admission rate, there appears to be a decoupling in terms of hospital admission rates at this early stage in the development of the fourth wave. is,” he said.

Friedland’s comments echo an earlier analysis by Dr Farid Abdullah of the South African Medical Research Council, who said that many patients diagnosed with COVID in hospitals in the worst-affected Gauteng province and elsewhere often present with other conditions. Patients used to have “accidental” identities.

“The main observation we have made in the last two weeks is that most of the patients in the COVID wards are not oxygen dependent. Sars-CoV-2 is an incidental finding in patients who have been admitted to the hospital for another therapy. Was it surgical or obstetric reasons,” Abdullah said.

“A snapshot of 42 patients in the ward on December 2 shows that 29 (70 per cent) are not oxygen dependent. These patients are well saturated with room air and do not present with any respiratory symptoms. An important preliminary finding in this analysis is the average duration of 2.8 days for patients admitted to COVID wards in the last two weeks is very short, compared to the average duration of 8.5 days in the last 18 months.

However, experts have said that it is still too early in Omicron’s outbreak to determine the long-term course of the disease. In addition, the country has recorded an increase in infections among the younger population.

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