NICD: 9% of SA children contracted Covid-19 since March
A Covid-19 survey conducted by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) shows that 9,4% of children under the age of 19 tested positive for Covid-19 since the beginning of March.
There were 148,768 positive Covid-19 cases during the surveillance period, while there were 9 918 reported Covid-19 hospital admissions.
“The incidence of admission among children aged older than 19 years was 13.3 times lower (454.4 per 1 million) than that in those aged 19 years (6027.0 per 1 million).The cumulative rate of admission was highest in individuals aged 1 year at 1667.7 per 1 million population, followed by individuals aged 15-19 years at 758.0 per 1 million population," shows the survey.
Of the 9918 admissions, 619 were admitted to ICU and 221 were ventilated at some point during admission.
“At analysis, 9036 had been discharged, 191 were still admitted, 284 had been transferred to other facilities and 407 had died during admission including six deaths confirmed as unrelated to COVID-19,” it said.
The survey also showed that the increase in cases during the first and second wave was not related to opening of schools.
“Reassuringly, the data shows that peaks in cases in the first and second wave did not appear to be related to the timing of the opening of schools and that cases remained low during the period when schools were open.
“Since the end of the second wave, it appears there have been cluster outbreaks associated with increased incidence and admissions among those 19 years in the Northern Cape province during week 9-12 and 14-17 of 2021 and in the Free State province during weeks 14-17 of 2021.”
ALSO READ
