Johannesburg - Johannesburg’s first citizen Geoff Makhubo has become the latest casualty of the third wave that is leaving more dead in its wake and worryingly increasing number of young children infected with the disease.
Makhubo, Joburg’s executive mayor died yesterday morning from complications from Covid-19. He had been in hospital for several weeks.
On Thursday, Gauteng had recorded 11 747 new cases of Covid 19, and while this number is high, the good news from the data is that there are early signs that the province might have hit its peak.
But as hospitals and other care facilities continue to strain under the increased case load, health-care professionals are warning that they are seeing more and more young children infected during this latest wave, and it appears to be driven by the highly contagious Delta variant.
On Monday, Limpopo Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba reported an alarming increase in the number of Covid-19 infections among young children in the province.
Ramathuba said that the province has already had 23 children aged between zero to four years old who tested positive in the past week, while in the 5 to 9-year-old age group, the province has had 34 positive cases so far.
Gauteng has also recorded a number of positive cases among children during the third wave.
Latest figures from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) indicate that Gauteng has recorded 31 positive cases out of 3 305 conducted on those 19 and younger.
The Gauteng Department of Health said they are unaware whether the contagious nature of the Delta variant is responsible for the slight rise in cases among children.
“Test results do not indicate the causal agent so as to determine the impact of each variant, confirmation of the type of variant follows a different process and presently the department does not have such information,” said Kwara Kekana, spokesperson for the Gauteng Department of Health
Paediatrician and allergist Dr Claudia Gray believes the Delta variant could be the reason for the spike in cases among young children.
“The increase in children with Covid-19 during this third wave is a reflection of the rapid community spread of this particular variant — the Delta variant — of the Srs-CoV-2 virus, which is dominating the current third wave,” Gray told the Saturday Star.
“We are tending to see entire families infected with the virus, including children, rather than just 25 to 50% of household members as seen in the first wave.”
“Whether children have a particular predisposition to this variant is not yet known. However, testing availability is greater.”
Despite an increase in cases among children, Gray said there was no reason for parents to panic.
“The admission and death rates in children are, proportionately, no higher than in previous waves and remain significantly lower than in adults.”
Professor Jeremy Nel, head of the division of infectious diseases at Wits University's Helen Joseph Hospital, also called for calm amid an increase in cases among children.
“Children are still protected under their age for the vast majority. Covid has still got a massive, what we call age determinacy in its mortality,” Nel told media recently.
Yesterday did see a positive milestone in the nation’s fight against the virus. The number of people vaccinated in South Africa breached 4 million, just as the Department of Health announced that the vaccine roll out would from August 1 include those aged between 35 and 49. But while the number of vaccinations is slowly increasing, the programme is still beset with problems.
Yesterday there were reports of vaccination centres in Johannesburg running out of vaccines and turning people away.
Professor Francois Venter, an infectious disease doctor at Ezintsha, Wits University believes that the vaccination drive needs to be made more simple to encourage poorer South Africans to get vaccinated.
“This ceremonial way of let's register them and then make them a booking and then get them to the door, that didn't work with HIV, which we quickly learnt. You need to make it as simple as possible," he said.
“They have this incredibly technocratic, SMS-based thing which has resulted in everyone who is rich and connected getting the vaccine, while those who are poor and not connected and rural not getting it.”
Venter’s concern is that if efforts were not made to make it easier for people to get vaccinated, the number of people wanting the vaccine would soon drop off.
Speaking at a media briefing yesterday the acting Health Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane said they are reviewing their roll out.
“We will continue to approach the vaccine rollout according to age sectors, but we are reviewing this. We do believe that the age process continues to be the best. It will continue to allow us to reach more, South Africans,” she said.
And while South Africa battles the third surge in the pandemic a new released study has found evidence that the South African variant of the virus caused increased hospitalisation and death, when compared to the first wave of the pandemic.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases study found that at the peak of the second wave the number of deaths reached 48.1 cases per 100 000 people compared to 24.7 per 100 000 in the first.
The authors said they needed further study to verify that the South African variant was the driver in these deaths, however they emphasised in the article that appeared in the
But as the fight continues against the third wave, this weekend will reveal the measures the national government plans to take to blunt the infection rate.
The National Coronavirus Command Council will meet on Sunday to assess developments in the pandemic and assess what responses need to be taken. This comes on the day that the two week level 4 lockdown period expires.
It is expected that later on Sunday, President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the nation on whether the level 4 lock down will be extended.