Hospital beds at the Anglo Gold Ashanti facility in Gauteng – Image via: Twitter
Hospital beds at the Anglo Gold Ashanti facility in Gauteng – Image via: Twitter
The first case of an Omicron-positive patient in South Africa was recorded on 8 November. We’re almost six weeks into this latest wave of COVID-19, and the Gauteng hospitalisation data reaching us from local virus hot-spots is proving to be a real source of encouragement for other regions of Mzansi, and potentially, the rest of the world.
Omicron latest news and updates from South Africa, for Friday 17 December
Waasila Jassat, a researcher with the NICD, has been very cautious throughout the Omicron wave. The expert has been careful not to label this variant as a milder one, and is wary of what its rapid spread means for the pandemic.
However, even Jassat is noticing something of a sea-change in Gauteng: Not only are fewer people requiring oxygen once admitted to hospital, but we’ve got a coronavirus first in South Africa – and it’s good news:
“We have seen a decrease in the proportion of people who need to be on oxygen. They are at very low levels. For the first time, there are more non-severe than severe patients in hospital.”
Waasila Jassat
Gauteng hospitalisation data looks ‘very encouraging’
Whichever way you look at the hospitalisation data coming from Gauteng, there are positive signs running through the charts and graphs. Case rates and mortality figures are also giving us all some much-needed hope:
- The rapid increase in cases HAS NOT transferred proportionally into hospitalisations and deaths.
- Although hospital admissions are starting to rise slighty, they’re much smaller than what has been seen in previous waves.
- The same goes for mortality rates. They are flat when compared to the past three surges of COVID.
- Gauteng is starting to see a decrease in cases now, too – meaning hospitalisations will soon peak here, too.
- The average stay in hospital for patients is now down to ‘three or four days’ – HALF of what was seen during the Delta wave.
- The NICD conclude that deaths amongst hospital patients are now 65% to 70% LOWER than before.
We’ve got the visual data on that last stat here, too…
Finally, what we've been waiting for: age-controlled data on Omicron severity, courtesy SA health ministry.
— Michael Lin, PhD-MD ???? (@michaelzlin) December 17, 2021
Across all ages, deaths among hospitalized pts are 2/3 lower in Omicron wave.
If more mild cases are admitted, this # goes down, but doesn't seem likely that's the reason pic.twitter.com/BRDY8BQyCZ
