Hospitalisation of children sparks concern over Omicron Covid variant
A South African doctor has expressed concern over the effects of the new Omicron COVID-19 variant on children, saying that more have been hospitalised with moderate to severe symptoms as a result.
Dr Rudo Mathivha, head of Intensive Care at Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital, said the number of patients reporting to hospitals has increased exponentially since the new variant took hold.
She said the hospital has reportedly admitted around 5-10 children at a time.
The doctor also spoke of a 15-year-old with the virus who had died after his condition rapidly deteriorated, as well as of a 17-year-old who had been placed on a ventilator in ICU with coronavirus-related pneumonia.
However, it is unclear whether they both had the Omicron variant.
“The situation is pretty concerning,” Dr Mathivha told the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).
The omicron variant is sending more children to hospital in South Africa. Infants, who largely only had a mild course of illness with previous variants are now experiencing moderate to severe symptoms.
H/T: @KatePri35772611 & @NjbBari3.pic.twitter.com/DmdM47dGts— Dr Zoë Hyde (@DrZoeHyde) December 5, 2021
“Because 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 coming in with moderate to severe symptoms needing supplemental oxygen, needing supportive therapy, needing to stay in hospital for quite a number of days.
“But what really broke my heart yesterday was a 15-year-old previously well child, no illness. Two day history of fever, comes into the hospital, tests positive for Covid and literally deteriorates in front of our eyes and nothing, no supportive therapy that we could do could help him.
Dr Mathivha said the boy was the first “child who had no comorbidities, and nothing existing before” who had died of Covid that she was aware of.
She also warned that the hospital may not be able to accommodate any more children soon, describing it as a “major problem” for the hospital to face.
“Our hospitals were not built to house a lot of children. Because naturally children do not get that sick in multitude,” she explained.
“We will not be able to accommodate them, and I’m not saying this to make people panic.
“I am saying this to say, all these preventive measures we take to interrupt the transmission of Covid let them be applied to the children as well.”
As South Africa faces its fourth wave of the virus, children remain ineligible for vaccination.
The South African Government said the new variant of COVID-19 has been disproportionately affecting children under five, while experts rubbish the idea that the variant is “mild”.
“The incidence in those under five is now second highest, second only to those over 60,” government advisor Waasila Jassat told reporters in Johannesburg.
She said there has been “quite a sharp increase” in hospital admissions “across all groups but particularly in the under five” demographic.
Though the Omicron variant was first detected in Botswana, the neighbouring country of South Africa has become the epicentre of the strain, with the city of Tshwane, in the Gauteng province, becoming one of the worst affected regions.
An analysis by South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has found a recent surge in toddlers being admitted to hospital due to Covid.
Dr Waasila Jassat, from the NICD, said young children seemed to be “more at risk”, but it was unclear whether the surge in admissions was linked to Omicron.
“When you look at the numbers of admission by age, what we normally see is a large number of admissions in older people,” Dr Jassat said during a media briefing held by the Department of Health.
“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.”
Dr Jassat noted that the trend could be due to children under 12 still being unvaccinated, and because parents were more concerned about the new variant, making them more likely to take their children to hospital 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.”
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