[imagesource:here]

Scientists and medical researchers are working around the clock to discover as much as they can about COVID-19, making relatively great strides in a very short period of time.

It feels like forever, but the world has only been dealing with this pandemic for roughly six months, and we’re coming up on four months since South Africa’s first confirmed case.

At least a vaccine is already in the human testing phase, and a drug manufactured in South Africa is being hailed as a breakthrough in the treatment of the virus.

On the flip side, three of our provinces are currently under siege, and there is talk once again about the possibility of “intermittent lockdowns” being enforced.

As the battle stretches on, we also have more data on who is at heightened risk if they are infected, which is vital to keeping the vulnerable safe.

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize cited data collected by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), which tracked 10 700 COVID-19 hospital admissions across the country from March 5 to June 21, reports MyBroadband.

The data shows which South Africans are more likely to develop a severe form of the disease, as well as the comorbidities present in a significant number of locally recorded deaths.

The report identified the following risk factors for “in-hospital mortality”:

• Older age groups
• Hypertension
• Chronic cardiac disease
• Chronic renal disease
• Malignancy
• HIV
• Obesity

If you fall into an ‘older age group’, or suffer from one of those conditions listed, you are considered at higher risk.

Of the 7 324 patients that recorded in-hospital outcomes (died or discharged), 1 515 died, giving an in-hospital case fatality ratio of 21%.

According to the NICD COVID-19 tracker, as of today (July 1, 2020), we have 151 209 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, 75 009 active cases, 73 543 recoveries, and 2 675 deaths.

The following graph shows confirmed cases from March through to June 30, 2020:

Here are the cases by province as of June 30:

The graph below is a visual representation of active cases (yellow), recoveries (green), and deaths per province (grey):

Presentations for COVID-19 have ranged from asymptomatic to deadly.

Wear your face mask properly (don’t be like these people), wash your hands, and keep your distance, if not for yourself, then for the vulnerable people out there.

Stay safe.

[sources:mybroadband&nicd]