Tshwane Covid-19 admissions: Majority of five children’s deaths attributed to pre-existing severe medical conditions

The majority of five children, who were infected with the coronavirus in the early stages of Tshwane’s fourth wave hospital admissions, died of other severe medical conditions.

Gauteng Health MEC spokesperson Kwara Kekana said there have been five deaths of children who were also infected with Covid-19 in the past six weeks, but the majority of them had other severe medical conditions which were the actual cause of death.

“Many of the children have presented with acute childhood illnesses, with Covid often being a contributory diagnosis and not necessarily the main admission diagnosis,” Kekana said.

Kekana said the deaths of children in Tshwane were monitored very closely.

The fourth Covid wave rapidly increased in the Tshwane district from mid-November.

“The new variant has spread rapidly, but until now we have not seen a major increase in disease severity, with mostly mild to moderate cases. Even the children who needed hospital admission mostly did not have the severe disease,” she said.

“Indeed it is true that a larger number of children were admitted to hospitals in the Tshwane district in this forth Covid wave, compared to the three previous waves. This is especially for the u.5 age group. This is being monitored very closely within the health system, and resources are re-allocated at hospitals as per need,” Kekana said.

As the fourth wave infected many people, Kekana said health staffers were also affected. Earlier this month the Tshwane metro reported that a total number of 74 health staff members went into isolation at different intervals.“

Health workers, including those working in paediatric wards, have also been affected, with staff numbers available onsite affected by staff being in isolation or quarantine,” Kekana said.

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This put increased pressure on non-affected staff members.

“During the previous three waves paediatric admissions have been comparatively low. This has meant that a large focus of the Covid-response had been on adult admissions, as this is where the clinical need was. The fact that now in this wave more children have been affected than before has meant re-prioritisation in the hospitals.”

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Kekana said the initial [November14-28 ] rapid rise in paediatric Covid-related admissions has now also slowed down.

“At the moment all the hospitals are coping in terms of staffing. Staff who were in isolation or quarantine have also started returning as their isolation/quarantine period was completed. Very few of the children have needed intensive (ICU/HCU) treatment, with the great majority having short-term admissions for only a few days before they were discharged,” she said.

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