Children under the age of two account for about 10 per cent of total hospital admissions in the omicron epicentre Tshwane in South Africa, according to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases.
More children are being admitted than during the early stages of the country entering the current fourth wave of infections, although a similar trend occurred during the third wave when Delta was dominant, said Dr Waasila Jassat, public health specialist at the institute…
“The very young children have an immature immune system and they are also not vaccinated, so they are more at risk,” said Dr Jassat, who was part of developing and managing South Africa’s national hospital surveillance system for Covid-19.
She said that part of the increased rate of admissions may reflect extra precaution on the part of parents given the new concern about the mutation. A paediatric report due later this week should provide more information.
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