Young in South Africa Falling Sick With Covid in Fourth Wave

(Bloomberg) --

More people under 40 are contracting Covid-19 as a fourth wave sweeps across South Africa, early data from the nation’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases show. 

As many as 68% of coronavirus hospital admissions in the Tshwane municipal area -- that includes the capital Pretoria -- were under 40. That compares with individuals over 50 accounting for 66.1% of hospitalizations during the first weeks of the third wave earlier this year, the institute said in a report on Friday. 

The analysis of 640 hospital admissions between Nov. 13 and Nov. 27 is timely as Africa’s most-industrialized nation grapples with a rapid rise in cases of the omicron strain, which has become the dominant variant in South Africa. Severity of cases has been less than the third wave, early numbers shows. South African authorities announced the discovery of omicron on Nov. 25.

Still, the data is preliminary and trends may change, said Waasila Jassat, a researcher with the NICD.

“We shall see over the coming weeks when we have more data,” she said. 

In the early part of the current wave 32.9% of admissions were severe, compared with 66.1% in the same period of the third wave. The NICD said 11% of hospital admissions in the current wave were under 2 years old.

Late Vaccination

South Africa’s mass vaccination drive only began at the start of the third wave’s onset. More older South Africans are vaccinated than younger ones.

Vaccination rates among South Africans:

Vaccinations for over 12s only began Nov. 1 and children under that age aren’t eligible.

The Institute reported 11,535 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, a 35% jump from the day before, and that the test positivity rate had surged to 22.4%, from 16.5%

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