South African Covid Hospitalizations at 9,023 With 6.8% in ICU

(Bloomberg) -- South African hospitals have 9,023 Covid-19 patients, of which 6.8% are in intensive-care units, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases said.

Of the 611 people in ICU, 244 are on ventilators, the institute said in a report on Tuesday. The economic hub of Gauteng, which includes Johannesburg and Pretoria, accounts for 3,540 of admissions and the coastal KwaZulu-Natal province 1,650. The numbers compare with the 8,435 who were in the hospital a day earlier, with 6.7% of those in ICU.

The epicenter of the South Africa’s omicron-fueled fourth wave of infections has shifted to KwaZulu-Natal, a popular destination for domestic tourists during the current summer holiday period, from Gauteng, according separate NCID reports published this week.

The Nov. 25 announcement of the discovery of the omicron variant sparked concerns of a surge in severe cases, but the country’s three biggest private hospital groups have said that so far it appears to cause milder illness than other strains. Hospitalizations peaked at nearly 20,000 in January and July, the crest of the country’s second and third waves respectively.

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