Episode Details

South Africa, Official says number of children sick with COVID-19 is not cause for panic https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/safrican-official-says-number-children-sick-with-covid-19-is-not-cause-panic-2021-12-04/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ntsakisi-maluleke-721541b/?originalSubdomain=za https://english.alarabiya.net/coronavirus/2021/12/04/South-African-official-says-number-of-children-sick-with-COVID-not-cause-for-panic Higher hospital admissions among children during a fourth wave Driven by the Omicron variant Should prompt vigilance but not panic, as infections have been mild Ntsakisi Maluleke, public health specialist, Gauteng province 1,511 COVID-positive patients in hospitals 113 were under 9 years old, a greater proportion than during previous waves We are comforted by clinicians' reports that the children have mild disease Health officials and scientists were investigating what was driving the increased admissions in younger ages No paediatrics phylogenetic epidemiology yet They would rather have a child under care for a day or two than having a child at home and complicating, ... but we really need to wait for the evidence She said many COVID-19 patients in Gauteng reporting non-specific flu-like symptoms, like a scratchy throat, as opposed to more easily identifiable markers like a loss of taste or smell Parents and pregnant women, more hospital admissions recently, to get tested in case intervention is needed further down the line. Gauteng's dedicated COVID-19 bed occupancy, 13% US current surge is delta https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/12/02/delta-variant-surge-omicron/ New Jersey Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli Delta driving the state’s uptick in hospitalizations I encourage everyone not to be hysterical about what we don’t know about omicron, but to be really proactive in controlling what we do know, which is the delta variant is here, it’s with us, it’s causing increasing trends Omicron so far North America Canada United States South America Brazil Europe Austria Belgium Czech Republic Denmark England Finland France Germany Ireland Italy Norway The Netherlands Portugal Scotland Spain Sweden Switzerland (suspected cases) Africa Botswana Ghana Nigeria Reunion Island (France) South Africa Middle East Saudi Arabia Israel Asia and the Pacific Australia Hong Kong India Japan Singapore South Korea US omicron https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/12/02/covid-omicron-variant-live-updates/ Ten confirmed, 5 in New York NY and Hawaii, community transmission California, Minnesota, Colorado India Two cases a 66-year-old South African national, been and gone a 46-year-old, southern city of Bengaluru, had no travel history Germany Unvaccinated not allowed in restaurants, cinemas and many shops Angela Merkel, vaccinations could be mandatory by February Austria Compulsory vaccinations from 1st February UK Bought 114 million more doses of Pfizer and Moderna All adults offered a booster by end of January Omicron cases + 75 = 134 Positivity 0.3% of positive cases SA (Peter) https://www.avert.org/professionals/hiv-around-world/sub-saharan-africa/south-africa Biggest HIV epidemic in the world In 2018 7.7 million people living with HIV 240,000 new HIV infections, 71,000 deaths HIV prevalence now 20.4% of people (one in five) living with HIV Could be double this 12.6% in Western Cape 27% in KwaZulu-Natal the omicron variant is associated with substantial ability to evade immunity from prior infection UK HIV, 2017 https://www.avert.org/professionals/hiv-around-world/western-central-europe-north-america/uk 101,600 people living with HIV People aged 15-74 years, 0.22% US and HIV https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/statistics.html Prevalence, 1.2 million

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