Omicron causing milder infection than first three waves: South Africa expert

Netcare Ltd, which has facilities at in the epicenter of the current fourth wave, the province of Gauteng, "are far milder than anything we experienced during the first three waves," Chief Executive Officer Richard Friedland said in a statement Wednesday, Bloomberg reported.

This agrees with the finding of two other local hospitals that had reported initially that Covid patients are not needing oxygen or intensive treatment.

Scientists are conducting studies to understand the extent of severity of the infection and resultant risks and much will only be known in the coming weeks.

In the first three weeks, the rate of hospital admissions rose in tandem with the rate of community transmission and these may be "decoupling", said Friedman, according to the report.

About 90 percent of Covid patients currently in Netcare hospitals need no oxygen therapy and are considered incidental cases, he said.

Out of the 838 Covid-9 patients admitted in Netcare Hospitals since November 15, 75 percent were unvaccinated. The four Covid deaths reported during this time, all had "significant co-morbidities" and were between 58 and 91.

 Eight of the 337 Covid-19 positive patients currently in Netcare hospitals are being ventilated and of these, two are primary trauma cases that also happened to test positive for Covid, the report stated.

Life Healthcare Group Holdings Ltd, one of the three largest private hospital groups, said  Wednesday it has 321 admitted Covid cases, and 20 percent of them are in its intensive care unit. Of the total cases, 30 percent younger than 30 years old, Life said, according to the Bloomberg report.

"While we fully recognize that it is still early days, if this trend continues, it would appear that with a few exceptions of those requiring tertiary care, the fourth wave can be adequately treated at a primary care level," Friedland said.