{"id":131932,"date":"2021-07-13T10:06:52","date_gmt":"2021-07-13T10:06:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=131932"},"modified":"2021-07-13T10:06:52","modified_gmt":"2021-07-13T10:06:52","slug":"in-south-african-covid-19-ward-medics-battle-worst-infection-wave-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/markets\/in-south-african-covid-19-ward-medics-battle-worst-infection-wave-yet\/","title":{"rendered":"In South African COVID-19 ward, medics battle worst infection wave yet"},"content":{"rendered":"
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – At an emergency COVID-19 ward run by a charity in southern Johannesburg, medics wheel gasping patients to their beds, rush from room to room with oxygen cylinders and pat the back of someone in the grip of a coughing fit.<\/p> The scenes in the converted community hall are a reminder of how badly South Africa has been hit by its third and most debilitating COVID-19 wave yet, as the infectious Delta variant surges through a mostly unvaccinated population.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Delta variant has caused enormous strain on the resources … Every hospital is getting strained, every healthcare worker is getting strained,\u201d said Fatimah Lambat, the doctor in charge of the ward set up by Gift of the Givers, a Muslim charity, to ease overloaded public hospitals.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very draining … patients are still phoning me from the community for help. And when we\u2019re full here, we still need to help them,\u201d she said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want them to be lost.\u201d<\/p>\n With South Africa recording an average of about 20,000 cases a day and nursing active cases, cumulatively, of more than 10 times that, Africa\u2019s most economically advanced nation has also been its worst hit by the virus, with 64,000 deaths.<\/p>\n A vaccination campaign has been slow, with just 4.2 million doses administered to a population of 60 million. Officials aim to reach a vaccination rate of 300,000 a day by the end of August.<\/p>\n Doctors say they have never had to deal with so many COVID-19 infections all at once. Hospitals in the largest city Johannesburg, where the latest wave started, are full.<\/p>\n For 79-year-old Catherine Naidoo, the most terrifying thing about falling gravely ill was knowing that so many had died.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t know what lies ahead. You look at the news and see how people are passing away,\u201d the recovered COVID-19 patient said, lying on her back and adjusting her mask. \u201cIt was the most frightening experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Behind another curtain, medics covered head to toe in protective gear adjusted the drip of a sleeping patient, while in another, a medic was getting a patient to do some exercises before getting her to blow into a tube to test her lungs.<\/p>\n President Cyril Ramaphosa extended COVID-19 restrictions on Sunday for another 14 days, including a ban on gatherings, a curfew from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. and a nationwide ban on the sale of alcohol.<\/p>\n