Hospital wards are filled with CHILDREN sick with Covid in South Africa as ‘super mutant’ Omicron surges, says doctor
HOSPITAL wards in South Africa are filling up with sick kids that have Covid as the "super mutant" Omicron strain continues to sweep through the country.
A South African doctor has said more kids are being hospitalised with severe Covid symptoms ever since the Omicrom variant took hold in the country.
Dr Rudo Mathivha, head of ICU at Chris Hani Barahwanath hospital, has said the shift in demographics means hospitals are again rapidly filling up with patients.
She said her hospital is reportedly admitting around 5 to 10 kids at a time.
Dr Mathivha told how a 15-year-old died after rapidly deteriorating following contracting the virus, and that a 17-year-old has been placed in ICU on a ventilator with Covid-related pneumonia.
It's not immediately clear if they both had the Omicron variant.
Speaking with the South African Broadcasting Corporation, the worried doctor said: "The situation is pretty concerning. This is not something that we had observed with the first, second and third wave.
"In the past, the children used to get a Covid infection … and it wouldn’t really put them down, it wouldn’t really send them to hospital in big numbers to be admitted.
"We are now seeing them [children] coming in with moderate to severe symptoms needing supplemental oxygen, needing supportive therapy, needing to stay in hospital for quite a number of days."
She added: "What really broke my heart yesterday was a 15-year-old previously well child, no illness.
Jassat said kids seemed "more at risk" of Covid but said it wasn't yet clear in the surge in admission was liked to Omicron.
She said: "When you look at the numbers of admissions by age, what we normally see is a large number of admissions in older people.
"But in this early resurgence in Tshwane, we are seeing most admissions in the 0-2 age group. And we are seeing a large number of admissions in the middle ages, sort of around 28 to 38."
READ MORE SUN STORIES
She said this could be because kids under 12 cannot be vaccinated and because parents are more concerned about the new variant that they're more likely to present their child to A&E at the first signs of illness.
"The very young children have an immature immune system and they are also not vaccinated, so they are more at risk," she said.
We pay for your stories!
Do you have a story for The Sun news desk?
Email us at exclusive@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4104. You can WhatsApp us on 07423 720 250. We pay for videos too.
Click here to upload yours.