COVID-19 PROJECTIONS: 1 340 CASES, 36 DEATHS BY DECEMBER 29

MBABANE – It is projected that COVID-19 cases will rise by 1 340 by December 29, 2021, with 36 deaths.

These are the latest projections which were issued by the Ministry of Health. Total COVID-19 cases to be recorded are 47 922 and 1 284 deaths by December 29, 2021.  As of  Tuesday, there were 46 582 cases and 1 248 deaths. The analysis of figures compared to all waves of the virus shows that cases recorded during the first wave totalled 6 633 and 126 deaths, while the second wave recorded 12 777 cases and 557 deaths. Total cases recorded during the third wave were at 27 128 and 565 deaths.

Wave

When reached for comment on whether the fourth wave was already upon the country, following the rise in daily recorded cases from 10 recorded on Sunday to 44 cases on Monday, the Minister of Health, Lizzie Nkosi, said they considered the hikes on a weekly basis. She said following yesterday’s jump in cases, they would be able to tell what the situation was exactly next week considering that the cases would be recorded in the coming days. The minister stated that around this time last year following ‘Black Friday’ they saw cases jumping in a similar fashion, culminating in the third wave. “We are watching this and in a week’s time, we will be able to predict how the cases would increase determining another wave or new way of protecting the nation.”

Meanwhile, Deputy Director of Health Services Dr Velephi Okello, when questioned on the virus behaviour since the vaccine rollout, stated that it was too soon to determine in light of vaccination for now. Dr Okello stated that worth noting was that despite the high transmissibility of the third wave which was driven by the delta variant, mortality rates were relatively low. She stated that in terms of the new variant, Omicron, there were still a lot of questions that were still being answered and the level of preparedness was based on lessons learnt in the previous waves. Dr Okello mentioned that the lessons learnt included the need for additional testing sites in all regions, additional field staff to do contact tracing and adequate fuel for field cars.

She said in relation to the above, the country had acquired eight vehicles, 24 extra field staff for contact tracing, extra budget for the fuelling and three bulk oxygen tanks for the Lubombo Referral Hospital among other things. Furthermore, she noted that six ambulances were now dedicated to COVID-19 patients with additional fuel support. There are 649 beds for admissions out of which 90 are dedicated to the intensive care unit (ICU) and 133 are for high dependency and oxygen support. Of note, she said the Mavuso Quarantine Centre had 69 high dependency beds which were established after the third wave.  These, she said would increase the capacity for oxygen support for patients.

The deputy director said all hospitals and healthcentres in the public sector had isolation wards and health workers had been trained in critical care. Furthermore, she said the ministry had good partnership with private hospitals and clinics that also provided isolation space for their patients.

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