As many South African officials worried about the impact the travel bans on the holiday season after optimism there would be a much-needed tourism surge, health authorities are scrambling to figure out how to deal with a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases across the country. Omicron appers to have been key to South Africa going from a period of low transmission to a sharp increase in new cases, reports the Associated Press.
Even though total cases across South Africa are still relatively low, health authorities are seeing a definite pattern in the people who are arriving in the hospital with serious illness: They’re younger and largely not fully vaccinated. “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, said at an online press briefing. “Young people, in their 20s to just over their late 30s, are coming in with moderate to severe disease, some needing intensive care. About 65 percent are not vaccinated and most of the rest are only half-vaccinated.” There is growing concern that the country’s health care facilities could quickly become overwhelmed as the large number oof mutations in omicron has led to fears that it could be much more easily transmissible. Although for now the variant has mostly been detected in South Africa’s Gauteng province, some officials suspect it’s likely much more widespread.
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