Covid affected nurses most with highest number of staff infections

CAPE TOWN - The biggest current risk faced by provincial health authorities during the fourth wave is increasing numbers of clinical staff in isolation, with nursing staff infections far exceeding other occupations.

This came to light during the latest Covid-19 briefing for the province on Wednesday.

As at December 20, the number of clinical staff in isolation was 1 116, health officials said.

Head of health Dr Keith Cloete said: “This is the biggest current risk for the department, but it is being managed by escalation/ de-escalation of services, onboarding of agency staff and a review of quarantine practices. There is significant constraint to deliver health services, especially at primary health care facilities and vaccination sites.

“Nursing staff infections far exceed other occupations – they are the most vulnerable workforce. We ask the public to please be patient. Staffing capacity will ebb and flow with the wave progression (there are different reasons for gaps in staffing). Continuous recruitment is under way, where possible (it’s budget dependent).”

He added that on average there were 3 383 new diagnoses a day and hospital admissions were increasing by 138 admissions a day.

Deaths remained low, with under two deaths daily.

Premier Alan Winde said that while Covid-19 infections were increasing, the rate of increase was slowing.

“This is very positive news, but we will continue to monitor the number of Covid-19 cases, hospital admissions and deaths closely amid the fourth wave. While the indications are positive, we are not yet out of the woods and haven’t yet reached our peak, which is why I urge residents to stay safe over the festive season,” said Winde.

As at 1pm on Wednesday there were 44 138 active cases of Covid-19 in the province, bringing the total number of infections to 580 601.

Meanwhile the findings of a Russian-South African scientific mission to study the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of the new coronavirus infection caused by the genetic variant Omicron were released on Wednesday.

“The increased transmissibility of the Omicron variant from person to person has been shown, resulting in increased incidence (the baseline reproductive rate increased to 2.5 in December, doubling time of 3.18-3.61 days) and an increase in the positive sample rate to 35.5% with no indication of a more severe clinical course,” said the National Department of Health (NDOH).

“Studies of the efficiency of immunological protection both after vaccination and after a previous disease, or their combination, show that compared to the initial variant, the degree of neutralisation of the Omicron variant is reduced from three to 41 times, depending on immunological status.

“It was noted that young age groups played a significant role at the initial stage of the spread of infection. It was also shown that the densely populated Tshwane district, which includes the capital city of Pretoria and which is near to the economic hub of Johannesburg, was the location of the initial clusters of transmission of the genetic variant Omicron,” the NDOH added.

Other key findings included that there was a high incidence of Sars-CoV2 infection in younger patients, especially in children in the initial stages (up to 50% of all patients seeking medical care for various reasons are infected), with clinical characteristics of flu, a large number of asymptomatic cases and population seropositivity of up to 70% in South Africa.

The course of the disease was more severe among unvaccinated people with risk factors, especially in older age groups. High frequency (15-20% overall) of reinfection and infection in vaccinated people is characterised by a milder course, the NDOH added.

Cape Times