As the Omicron variant sweeps through South Africa, Dr. Unben Pillay is seeing dozens of sick patients a day. Yet he hasn't had to send anyone to the hospital. 9News
, Dr. Unben Pillay is seeing dozens of sick patients a day. Yet he hasn't had to send anyone to the hospital.
Average hospital stays for COVID-19 have been shorter this time - about 2.8 days compared to eight days. "It's early days, and we need to get the final data. Often hospitalisations and deaths happen later, and we are only two weeks into this wave." Gauteng saw a 400 per cent rise in new cases in the first week of December, and testing shows Omicron is responsible for more than 90 per cent of them, according to health officials.
But the number of cases is climbing. South Africa confirmed 22,400 new cases on Thursday and 19,000 on Friday, up from about 200 per day a few weeks ago. The new surge has infected 90,000 people in the past month, Minister of Health Joe Phaahla said Friday.
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