What looked like a cluster infection among some university students in Pretoria ballooned into hundreds of new cases and then thousands, first in the capital city and then to nearby Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city. “The worst case scenario is that it hits us like delta … we need to have critical care beds ready.” “We know we have a new variant,” said Mathivha. ![]() ![]() She said urgent preparations are needed to enable public hospitals to cope with a potential large influx of patients needing intensive care. “I’m worried that as the numbers go up, the public health care facilities will become overwhelmed.” About 65% are not vaccinated and most of the rest are only half-vaccinated,” said Mathivha. “Young people, in their 20s to just over their late 30s, are coming in with moderate to severe disease, some needing intensive care. “We’re seeing a marked change in the demographic profile of patients with COVID-19,” Rudo Mathivha, head of the intensive care unit at Soweto’s Baragwanath Hospital, told an online press briefing. The country’s numbers are still relatively low, with 2,828 new confirmed cases recorded Friday, but omicron’s speed in infecting young South Africans has alarmed health professionals. In the space of two weeks, the omicron variant has sent South Africa from a period of low transmission to rapid growth of new confirmed cases. ![]() JOHANNESBURG - Worried scientists in South Africa are scrambling to combat the lightning spread across the country of the new and highly transmissible omicron COVID-19 variant as the world grapples with its emergence.
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