By Kaya 959 Reporter
While Gauteng continues to record the highest number of daily COVID-19 infections, experts say many patients have milder symptoms compared to those who tested positive in previous waves.
According to CEO of Netcare, Dr Richard Friedland, data across its hospitals and primary healthcare facilities shows important early trends.
“Having personally seen many of our patients across our Gauteng hospitals, their symptoms are far milder than anything we experienced during the first three waves,” he says.
He adds that approximately 90% of COVID-19 patients currently in Netcare hospitals require no form of oxygen therapy. He says they are considered incidental cases.
“While we fully recognise that it is still early days, if this trend continues, it would appear that with a few exceptions of those requiring tertiary care, the fourth wave can be adequately treated at a primary care level,” he says.
ALSO READ: South Africa hits 90K Covid-19 death toll
75% Unvaccinated
Friedland says they have about 337 COVID-19 patients admitted, of which 72% are in Gauteng while 18% are in KwaZulu-Natal.
He said of these patients approximately 10% are on some form of oxygenation compared to 100% in the first three waves.
“Eight of these patients (2%) are being ventilated and of these, two are primary trauma cases that are also Covid-19 positive. In the first three waves of the pandemic Netcare treated 126 000 COVID-19 patients across its 49 acute hospitals, of which 44% patients required admission,” he said.
Friedland says 26% of these patients were treated in High Care and Intensive Care.
Netcare’s data shows that 800 COVID-19 positive patients were admitted since November 15. About 75% of patients were unvaccinated.
“Netcare has seen seven deaths over this period in this group of patients, of which four may be ascribed to COVID-19.”
Friedland says the ages of these four patients ranged from 58-91 years of age. He says all had significant co-morbidities and three were not vaccinated.
On Wednesday, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases reported that 19 842 new COVID-19 cases were identified in South Africa. This brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3 071 064.
“A further 36 COVID-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 90 038 to date,” the NICD said.
