South Africa: Spike in Covid-19 infections may be ‘first signs’ of fourth wave in Gauteng: Prof Bruce Mellado - November 25, 2021

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/so...of-fourth-wave-in-gauteng-prof-bruce-mellado/


Spike in Covid-19 infections may be ‘first signs’ of fourth wave in Gauteng: Prof Bruce Mellado
Unathi Nkanjeni Reporter
25 November 2021 - 11:00

The first signs of what could possibly be a Covid-19 fourth wave have been spotted in Gauteng.

This is according to Prof Bruce Mellado, a member of the province’s Covid-19 advisory committee.

Speaking to Jacaranda FM this week, Mellado said the province was preparing models for a potential fourth wave after the rapid increase in cases.

Of the 1,275 new Covid-19 cases reported in the last 24 hours, at least 80% of them are from Gauteng.

“It is evident that the likelihood of these numbers being a reflection of a fourth wave coming is high. I don’t want to say there is no fourth wave. To the contrary, this may be the first signs of a fourth wave,” said Mellado.

He said the committee was analysing the data for more clarity...

 

[kiwibird]

https://www.news24.com/news24/south...-may-be-spreading-to-other-provinces-20211125

Covid-19: Most cases of new variant in Gauteng - and it may be spreading to other provinces

While most of the cases of a new Covid-19 variant have been detected in Gauteng, Health Minister Joe Phaahla and scientists believe it may also be present in other provinces.

Phaahla and Professors Tulio de Oliveira and Richard Lascelles confirmed the detection of variant B.1.1.529 during an "urgent" briefing on Thursday afternoon.

The associated google graph of South Africa has a phenomenal spike - but perhaps it is an error.

 

[kiwibird]

https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/s...vel-restrictions-uk-new-covid-variant-1320497

Flights from South Africa and five more countries – Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Eswatini – will be temporarily banned from noon on Friday, and all UK travellers will be asked to quarantine, Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced.

More than 500 people are arriving at UK airports from South Africa every single day, with the race to get them to take a test being escalated as a matter of urgency.
...
There have been nearly 100 confirmed cases in South Africa, but that country’s health minister believes there are many more due to a surge in cases in Gauteng province.

 

[sharon sanders]

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[Pathfinder]

Location in Gauteng

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_o...n_Municipality

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Executive Mayor, Randall Williams
@tshwane_mayor
[MEDIA STATEMENT] Tshwane active COVID-19 cases rapidly increasing with figures now reaching more than 1 000 new cases per day
@CityTshwane

 

[sharon sanders]

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[Pathfinder]

Executive Mayor, Randall Williams
@tshwane_mayor
[MEDIA STATEMENT] Active COVID-19 cases in Tshwane have increased from 6 697 to 20 425 in the last week. #COVID19

 

[Pathfinder]

LATEST CONFIRMED CASES OF COVID-19 IN SOUTH AFRICA (7 DECEMBER 2021)

7 December , 2021
...

THE 7-DAY MOVING AVERAGE NUMBER OF NEW CASES BY PROVINCE

The proportion of positive new cases/total new tested today is 24.9% which is lower than yesterday (26.4%). The 7-day average is 23.2% today, which is higher than yesterday (21.1%). The 7-day moving average daily number of cases has increased.

...
https://www.nicd.ac.za/latest-confir...december-2021/

 

[sharon sanders]

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[Pathfinder]

LATEST CONFIRMED CASES OF COVID-19 IN SOUTH AFRICA (21 DECEMBER 2021)

• 21 December , 2021

...

THE 7-DAY MOVING AVERAGE NUMBER OF NEW CASES BY PROVINCE

The proportion of positive new cases/total new tested today is 27,6% which is lower than yesterday (29,9%). The 7-day average is 30,1% today, which is lower than yesterday (31,1%).

For more detailed information, visit the GIS Dashboard.

...
https://www.nicd.ac.za/latest-confirmed-cases-of-covid-19-in-south-africa-21-december-2021/

 

[Pathfinder]

Executive Mayor, Randall Williams
@tshwane_mayor
Dec 20
[MEDIA STATEMENT] City of Tshwane active COVID-19 cases decrease significantly as they drop from 25 000 to 14 000 #COVID19
@CityTshwane

 

[sharon sanders]

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[Pathfinder]

Case drop may show South Africa’s omicron peak has passed

By ANDREW MELDRUM
today

JOHANNESBURG (AP) —
...
After hitting a high of nearly 27,000 new cases nationwide on Thursday, the numbers dropped to about 15,424 on Tuesday. In Gauteng province — South Africa’s most populous with 16 million people, including the largest city, Johannesburg, and the capital, Pretoria — the decrease started earlier and has continued.

“The drop in new cases nationally combined with the sustained drop in new cases seen here in Gauteng province, which for weeks has been the center of this wave, indicates that we are past the peak,” Marta Nunes, senior researcher at the Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics department of the University of Witwatersrand, told The Associated Press.

“It was a short wave ... and the good news is that it was not very severe in terms of hospitalizations and deaths,” she said. It is “not unexpected in epidemiology that a very steep increase, like what we saw in November, is followed by a steep decrease.”
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“The rapid rise of new cases has been followed by a rapid fall and it appears we’re seeing the beginning of the decline of this wave,” said Abdullah, working in the COVID-19 ward at Pretoria’s Steve Biko Academic Hospital.

In another sign that South Africa’s omicron surge may be receding, a study of health care professionals who tested positive for COVID-19 at Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital in Soweto shows a rapid increase and then a quick decline in cases.

“Two weeks ago we were seeing more than 20 new cases per day and now it is about five or six cases per day,” Nunes said.

But, she said, it is still very early and there are several factors that must be closely watched.
...
https://apnews.com/article/coronavir...b96f2d0ff44042

 

[sharon sanders]

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