Cape Town, South Africa (CWBN)_ Doctors from several regions in South Africa are reporting that they are struggling against a new wave of infections, and are recommending a stringent lockdown with immediate effect.
Adding to the circumstances, a new strain of the virus referred to as 501.V2 has been attributed to the resurgence and is suspected to be far more severe and transmissible, particularly among young individuals, compared to the previous strain.
Dr. Lazarus Jakes from Chatsworth told The Post that “The second wave is undoubtedly worse. I have patients who tested positive in March and recovered that are testing positive again. It’s the same symptoms, but the virus is transferred faster. Before the kids were safe, but now, more children are testing positive. My youngest patient was a six-month-old, whose parents had also tested positive.”
“I am getting positive results every day at my practice. My friends and colleagues at hospitals and private facilities have told me that they are overwhelmed. If there are five beds and 20 patients, how do you choose who gets a bed and who does not?” he added.
Moreover, ventilators, storage of bodies, lack of staff, and communication and organisational inadequacies, are among the broad range of issues plaguing the response of South African medical teams.
Meanwhile, Nigeria, Uganda and Mali are also reporting a similar resurgence of infections, the Head of Africa Centres for Disease Control, John Nkengason claimed.
As per recent reports, about 983,000 people have been infected while 26,276 people have died. The number of cases and casualties are expected to increase further over the coming weeks and months.
