Category: Medical

South Africa’s 69-year-old President Cyril Ramaphosa tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday, though is showing only mild symptoms, the presidency said.

“The President started feeling unwell after leaving the State Memorial Service in honor of former Deputy President FW de Klerk in Cape Town earlier today,” the statement added.

At the memorial service, a mask-wearing Ramaphosa gave a eulogy to the last leader of South Africa’s white minority government, who helped negotiate an end it.

“The President, who is fully vaccinated, is in self-isolation in Cape Town and has delegated all responsibilities to Deputy President David Mabuza for the next week,” the presidency added.

In the past few days, a nationwide outbreak believed to be linked to the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus has been infecting around 20,000 people a day. South African scientists see no sign that the variant causes more severe illness.

Source: Voice of America

KINSHASA, Thirteen people have been killed and 17 others were rescued following a shipwreck overnight from Saturday to Sunday on the Congo River near the Ibali village, Mai-Ndombe province, in the Western Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

According to Crispin Ipondo Bonda, provincial minister in charge of the interior and security affairs, a boat from Kinshasa sailing for Inongo, capital of Mai-Ndombe, was shaken by a strong wind that led to the sinking.

“According to the emergency report, 30 passengers were on board. 13 people died and 17 others have been rescued,” he said, adding that the strong wind was the cause of the accident.

Three shipwrecks have already taken place over the last two months on the Congo River in the Mai-Ndombe province.

Shipwrecks are recurrent across the DRC, particularly on the Congo River, where night-time travel, overloads as well as poor conditions of ships are usually the causes of most accidents.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

JOHANNESBURG —

As the omicron variant sweeps through South Africa, Dr. Unben Pillay is seeing dozens of sick patients a day. Yet he hasn’t had to send anyone to the hospital.

That’s one of the reasons why he, along with other doctors and medical experts, suspect that the omicron version really is causing milder COVID-19 than delta, even if it seems to be spreading faster.

“They are able to manage the disease at home,” Pillay said of his patients. “Most have recovered within the 10- to 14-day isolation period.” said Pillay.

And that includes older patients and those with health problems that can make them more vulnerable to becoming severely ill from a coronavirus infection, he said.

In the two weeks since omicron first was reported in Southern Africa, other doctors have shared similar stories. All caution that it will take many more weeks to collect enough data to be sure, their observations and the early evidence offer some clues.

According to South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases:

Only about 30% of those hospitalized with COVID-19 in recent weeks have been seriously ill, less than half the rate as during the first weeks of previous pandemic waves.

Average hospital stays for COVID-19 have been shorter this time — about 2.8 days compared to eight days.

Just 3% of patients hospitalized recently with COVID-19 have died, versus about 20% in the country’s earlier outbreaks.

“At the moment, virtually everything points toward it being milder disease,” Willem Hanekom, director of the Africa Health Research Institute, said, citing the national institute’s figures and other reports. “It’s early days, and we need to get the final data.

Often hospitalizations and deaths happen later, and we are only two weeks into this wave.”

In the meantime, scientists around the world are watching case counts and hospitalization rates, while testing to see how well current vaccines and treatments hold up. While delta is still the dominant coronavirus strain worldwide, omicron cases are popping up in dozens of countries, with South Africa the epicenter.

Pillay practices in the country’s Gauteng province, where the omicron version has taken hold. With 16 million residents, It’s South Africa’s most populous province and includes the largest city, Johannesburg, and the capital, Pretoria. Gauteng saw a 400% rise in new cases in the first week of December, and testing shows omicron is responsible for more than 90% of them, according to health officials.

Pillay says his COVID-19 patients during the last delta wave “had trouble breathing and lower oxygen levels. Many needed hospitalization within days,” he said. The patients he’s treating now have milder, flu-like symptoms, such as body aches and a cough, he said.

Pillay is a director of an association representing some 5,000 general practitioners across South Africa, and his colleagues have documented similar observations about omicron. Netcare, the largest private health care provider, is also reporting less severe cases of COVID-19.

But the number of cases is climbing. South Africa confirmed 22,400 new cases on Thursday and 19,000 on Friday, up from about 200 per day a few weeks ago. The new surge has infected 90,000 people in the past month, Minister of Health Joe Phaahla said Friday.

“Omicron has driven the resurgence,” Phaahla said, citing studies that say 70% of the new cases nationwide are from omicron.

The coronavirus reproduction rate in the current wave – indicating the number of people likely to be infected by one person — is 2.5, the highest that South Africa has recorded during the pandemic, he said.

“Because this is such a transmissible variant, we’re seeing increases like we never saw before,” said Waasila Jassat, who tracks hospital data for the National Institute for Communicable Diseases.

Of the patients hospitalized in the current wave, 86% weren’t vaccinated against the coronavirus, Jassat said. The COVID-patients in South Africa’s hospitals now also are younger than at other periods of the pandemic: about two-thirds are under 40.

Jassat said that even though the early signs are that omicron cases are less severe, the volume of new COVID-19 cases may still overwhelm South Africa’s hospitals and result in a higher number of severe symptoms and deaths.

“That is the danger always with the waves,” she said.

Source: Voice of America

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — South Korea, widely seen as a global model of coronavirus containment, faces its biggest pandemic challenge yet, as COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to rise after the country began removing pandemic related restrictions.

Daily caseloads surpassed 7,000 Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. That is quadruple the daily numbers reported at the beginning of November, when South Korea pivoted toward its living with COVID-19 plan.

In the Seoul metropolitan area, where more than half the country’s population resides, intensive care hospital beds are full. The country has also hit new daily highs for the number of severely ill COVID-19 patients, which stood at 857 Thursday.

Although South Korea has tallied only a fraction of the cases and deaths of other developed countries such as the United States and Britain, its fatality rate rose to 1.4% over the past week. That is the ninth highest among 38 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development nations.

South Korea’s deteriorating situation demonstrates the challenges of returning to life as normal, complicated by the delta variant that undermined government projections, even in a country that had until now been spared the worst of the pandemic.

Grim warnings

Government officials, who have been careful not to raise unnecessary alarms as they sought to keep businesses open, are now sounding a grimmer tone.

At a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on Friday, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum, who oversees the pandemic response, judged that the country’s medical response capability was quickly burning out, warning that stricter social distancing measures may need to be enforced if the “risky situation” does not soon turn around.

The prime minister again placed heavy emphasis on vaccination, including for minors. He announced the interval between the second vaccine shot and boosters would be shortened to three months.

The government paused its “living with COVID-19” transition Monday, replacing it with an expanded “vaccine pass” mandate. The new plan requires people who gather in limited groups at restaurants and cafes to show proof of vaccination or a very recent negative PCR test result upon entry. This usually takes the form of a smartphone application, called COOV. The mandate extends to other public facilities, including gyms, study rooms and bars.

Risk control

The figure that health officials are watching closely is the number of severe COVID-19 patients, especially as hospitals are taxed. A recent projection by the National Institute for Mathematical Sciences put that figure as likely to exceed 1,000 by next week, and the overall daily caseload could reach the 12,000 level by the end of the month.

That is an alarming prospect for hospital staff, who are already exhausted by the unrelenting stream of COVID-19 patients.

“Non-COVID patients are not able to access the ER.” Dr. Chon Eun-mi, a pulmonologist at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, told VOA.

“The ER is clogged with COVID patients, leaving people with other symptoms no choice but to wait it out at home. Surgeries are also being delayed,” she said.

It’s a similar picture at other major hospitals across Seoul, nearby Incheon and the surrounding Gyeonggi province.

Kim issued an administrative order for 1,700 more hospital beds to be secured outside of the capital.

Those 60 years and older, with waning vaccine immunity, have made up most of the severe breakthrough cases as the delta variant spreads in the country.

“The government didn’t expect this many severe COVID cases since we had made vaccination progress,” Chon said, referring to South Korea’s 92% vaccination rate among adults.

“It broadly adopted its ‘living with COVID’ transition, more people moved about, and those who were immunocompromised or elderly became reinfected. But, this time, they had to wait at home because there were no available hospital beds. Their conditions worsened and they died before they could get real help,” she said.

Chon said COVID-19 patients should be centralized at a large facility such as a stadium, convention hall or borrowed hotel, where those with mild symptoms can receive antibody or remdesivir treatment before their conditions worsen. She said the current approach of remotely treating mild patients from home is not working.

The omicron factor

South Korea has detected at least 63 cases of the omicron variant, 48 of which were linked to community spread.

Omicron, which the World Health Organization last month designated a variant of concern, was first reported by South Africa. Health experts fear it may be more transmissible, but it is not yet clear if it causes more or less severe symptoms.

Seoul has limited arrivals from a growing list of African countries, most recently Ghana and Zambia. It also instituted a mandatory 10-day quarantine on all international arrivals, regardless of their vaccination status.

Dr. Chung Jae-hoon, adviser to the prime minister’s office and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, recently offered this assessment to a local newspaper.

“Expect to stay in this COVID-19 reality for at least another three years. Delta has taught us that vaccination alone will not end the crisis. The first half of next year will be even harder for medical staff. Bigger challenges remain,” he said.

Source: Voice of America

South Africa recorded more than 20,000 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, nearly double the number from one week earlier. The government is making a renewed push for people to get vaccinated, but so far is avoiding new lockdown measures, in an effort to protect the economy.

Coronavirus cases are rising dramatically in South Africa with over 113,000 people currently infected.

Experts say the omicron variant discovered in South Africa last month is most likely driving the latest wave.

But Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele told reporters today that the government is trying to avoid stricter lockdown measures.

“The damage the restrictions caused last year, level five and so on, thousands of business that stopped and the number of jobs that have been lost. The attitude the government is adopting is find the best possible way of navigating whilst ensuring that… the economy moves,” said Gungubele.

The South African government is championing vaccinations in order to protect more people from severe illness.

The efforts appear to be working, with more than 133,000 people receiving a shot Wednesday. It means 43 percent of adults have at least had one dose.

Gungubele said vaccinations are key to protecting lives as the government tries to protect both public health and the economy.

“You need to find a balance between the livelihood and lives, because these are two side of the same coin and that coin is life. When one of them collapse, the life collapse,” said Gungubele.

Still, hospitalizations are increasing, with over 300 people admitted Wednesday.

Minister Gungubele said the government is closely monitoring admissions to ensure facilities don’t end up overwhelmed. “So far the reports we’re getting is that there is no red flag in that.”

Thirty-six people died Wednesday of the coronavirus, bringing the country’s total death toll to over 90,000.

South African health officials are expected to release more information on their findings about the current wave and the omicron variant on Friday.

Source: Voice of America

The latest United Nations analysis of food security in the Sahel and Western African countries finds a record 38 million people will face severe food shortages next year. It warns that many people may not survive without prompt and generous international humanitarian assistance.

Acute hunger will hit the most vulnerable people during next year’s lean season. This is the period when food stocks are at their lowest and millions of people will not have enough food to eat.

The lean season normally occurs in the West and Central African region between June and August. But World Food Program Senior Research Officer for the region, Ollo Sib, says signs indicate next year’s lean season will begin as early as March.

“Given that the food stocks are very low…For livestock there is not enough pasture. For livestock we anticipate an earlier lean season, especially for the pastoralists in the region…and this will push people to adopt certain strategies,” Sib says.

Sib notes many people already are feeling the pinch of hunger and are resorting to extreme coping strategies. These include selling livestock and other assets to have enough money to put food on the table.

The WFP official says climate and conflict remain two major drivers of the poor harvest and poor production in the Sahel. He notes the past few years have been exceptionally dry in the Sahel and massive drought has affected millions of people from West Africa.

He adds widespread conflict in the region has discouraged farmers from planting their crops and pastoralists from moving their livestock freely in search of grazing land. He says satellite imagery shows 35 percent of the villages have suffered severe crop losses due to conflict and massive displacement.

“We are talking about five to seven million people overall displaced. We are talking about 13 million people affected by conflict in the region and most of them are farmers, most of them are pastoralists, and this conflict is pushing them away from their livelihoods system and their capacity to produce.”

The United Nations says early action is needed to ward off the worst. It is calling on the international community to step up now before the lean season sets in. UN officials say early and adequate investment is needed to prepare for next year’s agricultural season. They say the provision of food aid is urgently needed to prevent malnutrition from soaring.

Source: Voice of America