- South African variant is "not more deadly", in South Africa, at least Archived Message
- The UK’s Pandemic Gets Worse - Keith-264 January 27, 2021, 9:40 am
Posted by margo
on January 27, 2021, 11:32 am, in reply to "The UK’s Pandemic Gets Worse"
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Good news from South Africa, where the curve on the South African variant is flattening rather quickly. SA figures peaked on January 8 and have been dropping steadily since. The rapid rise of cases in December (rather than deaths) was evident, but a doctor from govt health said this morning that the January drop has (interestingly) been just as rapid, which is good news. Lots of hype about South African scariant being "more deadly"' but, in SA at least, figures don't support that?  Previous MessageA NEW variant of the coronavirus first identified in South Africa is more contagious than earlier versions, experts said on Monday, but there is no evidence that it is more deadly. The new variant is 50% more contagious, said epidemiologist Professor Salim Abdool Karim, co-chair of the health ministry’s scientific committee. “There is no evidence the new Covid variant is more severe than the original variant,” he added. The experts drew their conclusions about the variant — now the dominant strain in South Africa — from an analysis of data collected from the main infection clusters across the country. With more than 1.3 million people infected, South Africa has recorded more cases than any other country on the continent and has also suffered more deaths, with 37,105 registered. The second wave of the virus has stretched South Africa’s health system to its limits. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Monday said there had been a 23% fall in infections — but that the number of hospital admissions was up by 18.3% on the previous week. Dr Waasila Jassat, another member of the expert panel, said that even though admissions were up, the death rate from the virus in hospitals had not changed from the first wave of the virus. https://www.samaa.tv/news/2021/01/south-africa-coronavirus-variant-more-contagious-experts-confirm/ |
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