Pandemic numbers show a downward trend for the second consecutive week, but caution should not be relaxed, pediatrics professor and member of the coronavirus pandemic experts committee Vana Papaevangelou said on Thursday, according to ANA.
During a regular briefing, Papaevangelou said the National Health System (NHS) continues to be under pressure. Plain beds for Covid-19 have reached 67% capacity throughout the country and beds in Covid-dedicated ICUs have an 80% capacity.
At the same briefing, epidemiology professor and fellow committee member Gkikas Magiorkinis also referred to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Despite the exponential rise of diagnoses in South Africa, they do not appear to be followed by a corresponding rise in deaths, he noted, although hospitalizations did rise. He said that time would “show the effect of Omicron on countries with better rates of vaccination, as in the United Kingdom, where Omicron is doubled every 2-3 days approximately.”
Magiorkinis said that new diagnoses of the virus dropped by 11% this week, with a slight rise in deaths by 3%. There is a definite trend of stabilization in admissions, he noted: although the number of patients in ICUs rose sharply by 8%, new admissions dropped by 8%. The admissions-to-discharges ratio is nearly 1:3, he said.
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