Durban doctor warns of possible sixth wave after spike in Covid-19 cases

A Durban doctor has warned of a possible Covid-19 sixth wave based on the number of positive patients he has treated since Monday.

Dr Kevindra Naidu, a general practitioner based in Morningside, sounded the alarm on his Facebook page on Wednesday. He said while there had been a few isolated cases at his practice over the past two weeks, he had noticed an uptick since Monday.

“The sixth wave is likely inevitable in Durban and should accelerate over the next 10 days,” he said.

“Mask when in groups, and social distance when possible, just until this wave passes.

“Symptoms are coming on quick and passing quickly also, with the cough and fatigue lingering.”

Naidu said none of his patients had required admission to hospital and needed a “good few days in bed”.

“In keeping with the recent influenza A and B outbreaks, symptoms are nasty but full recovery [is possible] with symptomatic medication, without antibiotics, steroids or oxygen.

“Hopefully this will be a short wave that passes by the end of November.”

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said according to its Covid-19 weekly hospital surveillance report, 211 people were admitted nationally in the past week.

Gauteng had the highest number of admissions with 72 patients, followed by the Western Cape with 50 and KwaZulu-Natal with 39.

The Northern Cape had the lowest number of admissions with two patients.

“The highest weekly incidence risk of Covid-19 admissions reported in week 43 of 2022 was in the 65-and-over age group and the lowest weekly incidence risk was in the 20-34 age group.

“An increased incidence risk of Covid-19 admissions was observed in children over five in weeks 40 and 41 [October 3-16] nationally and in Gauteng, but the incidence risk has since decreased.”

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