IOL News channel posted a notice that South Africa’s sixth wave could be about to begin on September 7, 2022. This was after the nation’s Institute for Communicable Diseases reported low COVID virus levels for the previous couple weeks. It’s already evident the sixth South African wave poses questions without straightforward answers. Will the coronavirus surprise us again?
Potential Sixth South African Wave Poses Questions
IOL News multimedia journalist Siphokazi Vuso chatted with Solidarity Doctors Network Advisory Board member, Dr. Angelique Coetzee in Cape Town. She reported an uptick in cases she saw at her surgery. ‘I have seen seven patients in less than 24 hours positive with various clinical pictures,’ she told him.
‘The next thing that is troubling,’ she continued. ‘Is that there are only two patients who never had COVID before, but were vaccinated. The rest had their vaccinations and had COVID before.
‘We will see what is going to develop within the next week or two and what clinical pictures we are going to see and what will be the dominant symptoms these patients have. Two of the patients don’t really fit Omicron symptoms for now. I also saw a patient having loss of taste, something we did not see with Omicron before.’
Going Forward We Will Have to Watch This Space
Two of Dr. Angelique Coetzee’s seven patients she saw in a single day had loss of taste. This was unusual for her, in addition to her seeing no COVID patients at all during the previous six weeks. Is this time to start testing again, she asks?
Barry Schoub is emeritus professor of virology at University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. The South African president awarded him The Order of Mapungubwe in Silver for his achievement in virology, and for his invaluable contribution to infectious diseases.
Barry Schoub told multimedia journalist Siphokazi Vuso, ‘Should this pattern continue we could expect the next wave, the 6th wave, sometime this month or early next month. This may be the start of the next wave, but right now it is still too early to tell.’
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