COVID-19 (South Africa) – 2022/05/27

Everything is moving in the right direction, except for the vaccination rates which are moving downward. I am concerned about the mortality data being reported in all the provinces, but more so in Limpopo (the last death was reported on 5 May) and Mpumalanga where the last mortality was reported on 9 March. As we all know, “When something sounds too good to be true…” The graph with the excess deaths in Mpumalanga confirms what I suspect.

COVID-19: (Smaller countries) – 2022/05/26

Once again Chile and Argentina’s infection rates are going up. For the past seven days, Colombia has reported no updates and therefore we don’t know whether the infection rate is still increasing.
A new variant of concern has been identified in the U.S. – still part of the Omicron subvariant, known as BA.2.12.1. At the moment it is causing 57% of infections in the U.S. You can read more about it here:
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/…

COVID-19 (Medium-sized countries) – 2022/05/25

It can safely be said that South Africa is over the peak of its fifth wave and I am sure this wave will be much shorter than most anticipated. On the other hand, the BA.4 and BA.5 variants, dominant in South Africa, have now been labelled as variants of concern in the UK, mainly to identify potential risks as early as possible. You can read an article in The Guardian here:
Two types of Omicron classified as Covid variants of concern in UK | Coronavirus | The Guardian

COVID-19: (Large countries) – 2022/05/24

COVID-19 (Global) – 2022/05/23

Worldwide numbers are moving upwards again. If you reside in the U.S. or are merely interested to see what an epidemiologist has to say about what is happening with the pandemic, read Katelyn Jetelina’s update: https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/…/are-we…

COVID-19 (South Africa) – 2022/05/20

I’m not quite sure about where South Africa is finding itself at the moment. The way I interpret the official data, we’re over the peak of the fifth wave, with two of the provinces (Limpopo and Mpumalanga) that never even went into a fifth wave. On the other hand, I have several close family members who recently had or still have COVID, of whom only one went to be tested. And this I believe is the case for many people. (As a matter of interest: All of them had remained COVID-free since 2020 and the fact that they are now positive was a bit of a shock.) A friend of mine from Amanzimtoti told me yesterday that one of the wards at a hospital is now a red zone because of the high number of COVID cases. Furthermore, despite infection rates going down in seven of the nine provinces, hospitalisations, ICU and ventilation cases are still on the rise.

COVID-19: (Smaller countries) – 2022/05/19

The picture this week is much the same as last week, with the same four countries indicating a higher infection rate with rates in three of the South American countries more than double those of a week ago.

COVID-19 (Medium-sized countries) – 2022/05/18

People following my updates know that I am extremely careful to make predictions. But I do have a feeling that South Africa might have passed the peak of the fifth wave. I might be wrong, but I hope I’m not. We should have a better idea by Friday.

COVID-19: (Large countries) – 2022/05/17

Last week, among the larger countries, only the U.S. and Brazil showed an increase in their infection rates. This week Indonesia, Mexico and Japan join them.

COVID-19 (Global) – 2022/05/16

For the first time in two months, the global infection rate is increasing, although it still has to be seen whether this upward trend will continue.

In a medical article, it is indicated that people with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease have a very high risk of severe COVID illness – in the case of diabetes ten times higher and in the case of patients with stage 5 chronic kidney disease, four times higher. The article can be accessed here:
https://www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcoverage/aace/98722?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2022-05-15&eun=g1759597d0r&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Headlines%20Evening%202022-05-15&utm_term=NL_Daily_DHE_dual-gmail-definition

Katelyn Jetelina has once again written an excellent summary of what the global situation is at the moment, starting with what is happening in South Africa at the moment. You can read her update here:
https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/…/state-of…