South Africa’s COVID-19 positivity rate, the percentage of tests that indicate confirmed coronavirus infections, rose by 5% between Monday and Tuesday to 23%, and also on Tuesday, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) launched a new dashboard that allows the public to access wastewater surveillance reports. The genetic material of coronaviruses in wastewater is an early indicator of a possible outbreak within a community.
Sinenhlanhla Jimoh, a spokesperson for the NICD, said the number of new infections in the country had increased by 7,523.
“This increase represents a 23% positivity rate,” she said – a jump from 17% on Monday. There had also been 26 more deaths.
Daily Maverick reports that the National Department of Health is conducting auditing exercises, meaning that older deaths are added to the tally. Eight of these had occurred in the previous 24 to 48 hours.
On the launch of the new dashboard that allows people to access wastewater surveillance reports, Professor Adrian Puren, the NICD’s executive director, said this was impressive technology that enables public health decision-makers and policymakers to make timely decisions that can be tremendously beneficial to communities. He said that infected people, including those who had no symptoms, shed the virus in their faeces.
“Global experience is showing that the levels of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater reflect the burden of disease in the community. The dashboard was developed so users can view the concentration of SARS-CoV-2 detected in each wastewater treatment facility, in real time.
“Moreover, trends in the wastewater levels of SARS-CoV-2 across various time points can also be monitored, alongside the number of laboratory-confirmed cases in the subdistrict where these wastewater plants are situated.” The dashboard displays SARS-CoV-2 levels from 87 wastewater treatment facilities countrywide.
According to the latest genomic surveillance report, posted by a network of South African universities, the two subvariants of the virus, BA.4 and BA.5, increased in prevalence in March (16%), and both were dominant in April (58%).
The daily report on hospitalisations for COVID-related complications showed that most patients (2,349) were in general wards with 178 in high care and 280 in intensive care. Of these, 83 were on ventilators.
NICD Genomic Surveillance update (Open access)
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