Doctors in South Africa said Friday there had been a spike in hospitalisations among young children after Omicron swept through the country but stressed it was early to know if they were particularly susceptible, IgbereTV reports
In the week since South Africa alerted the world of the new Covid variant, infections have spread faster than in the country’s three previous waves.
The first cluster of cases centred around university students, and then spread quickly among young people who seem to have spread it to older people.
But scientists and health officials said they had seen increasing hospital admissions in children under five, along with higher positivity rates among children aged 10-14.
Wassila Jassat, from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, said: “We’ve seen quite a sharp increase across all age groups, particularly in the under-fives,” referring to hospitalisations.
“The incidence in those under-fives is now second-highest, and second only to the incidence in those over 60,” she told a news conference
