SA in third wave of Covid
Last time country had so many positive patients was in January
Public hospitals are seeing a significant spike of Covid-19 admissions as SA is now officially in third wave of the pademic.
Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Soweto, and Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria have seen a 50% increase in admissions of patients who contracted the virus.
They have 116 and 73 hospitalised patients, respectively.
Last night, the officially entered into third wave after the spike of Covid-19 cases.
Gauteng, Free State, Northern Cape and North West were already experiencing their third wave before the whole country officially entered into the third wave.
Steve Biko CEO Dr Mathabo Mathebula early yesterday said Gauteng was at its peak of the third wave and that it was evident in the massive increase of the patients “we have admitted for Covid”.
“We have 73 of them and last week we were in the 60s and week before we were in the 30s. That means we have to double our efforts to cater for other winter illnesses and trauma caused by alcohol-related incidents.
“Last time we had so many patients was in January, when we peaked at 155 patients. I see us reaching 90 patients by Monday as we still have patients waiting for their results. My major concern is staff falling sick,” said Mathebula.
The hospital has 193 Covid beds available.
Bara had 46 patients two weeks ago and that figure doubled by last week. Besides the current 116 patients, 57 people were still waiting for their results yesterday, said acting CEO Dr Steve Mankupane.
He attributed the spike to mainly mental fatigue and gatherings. “I drive around a lot in Soweto and I see a lot of people not wearing masks.”
Ten days ago, Tembisa Hospital on the East Rand had 32 Covid-19 patients and now the figure stands at 47. Patients waiting for results rose from 15 to 27 over the same period. The hospital has 151 Covid beds.
“We are under pressure. We are close to reaching our capacity.
The challenge is that we still have the high burden of diseases,” said hospital acting CEO Dr Ashley Mthunzi early yesterday.
Before SA officially entered the third wave last night, the country was hovering in the 29% mark. It had to reach the 30% threshold for a third wave to be declared. On Wednesday, SA recorded more than 8,000 new daily infections, a figure last reached during the second wave on January 24, with 8,147 new cases.
Dr Hazel Mufhandu, a virologist at the North West University, was convinced that the country was already in its third wave.
“I do not know why some commentators and advisers are saying we are going into the third wave. We are in a winter season and we see the numbers going up on a daily basis,” Mufhandu said.
“The wave is gradually increasing until it reaches a plateau, as we saw in the first and second waves. In the previous waves we reached 13,000 to 15,000 cases a day.
“People are fatigued and are not observing the protocols. This is what is pushing the numbers,” she said.
Prof Mosa Moshabela, deputy vice-chancellor of research and innovation at University of KwaZulu-Natal, said the country had averaged 5,418 daily infections over the past seven days.
“Government needs to put us under lockdown level three as soon as we hit the third wave... We will have to ride out the third wave for about two months before it is over,” Moshabela said.