Warning against complacency as Covid-19 infections spike

MEDICAL experts have said they were seeing indications of a spike in Covid19 infections and warned the public against complacency.

This comes as the SA Medical Research Council (SAMRC) said it observed an increase in Covid-19 traces in several wastewater treatment plants in the Western Cape in October.

Solidarity Doctors Network Advisory board member Dr Angelique Coetzee urged the public to test if they experienced any Covid-19 symptoms.

“We are seeing patients coming in with a normal cold, typical sore throat and running nose, a bit of tiredness.

“If patients are checked there’s a 50% chance that could be Covid.

“We saw a lot of patients in the past few weeks with Covid symptoms.

“It is important that people do

Covid testing if they think they have a flu or cold, or even diarrhoea.

“The problem is long Covid symptoms presenting a few days or weeks after mild infection.

“If not tested then it becomes difficult to say fatigue or loss of smell is Covid-related,” she said.

Cape Town resident and UCT Energy Systems Research Group associate Hilton Trollip, who was recovering from the virus with his wife, said it started off as a normal flu.

“Having confirmed that we had tested positive, we were able to tick off the days we should not expose other people to Covid.”

Omicron has been listed as a variant of concern in South Africa by the National Institute For Communicable Diseases of SA (NICD). Omicron continued to dominate in September, October and currently made up 92% of November data, the NICD said.