JOHANNESBURG/CAPE TOWN:Matron Annamarie Odendaal has cancelled all staff holiday on the COVID-19 ward at the private Arwyp Medical Centre in Johannesburg as a second wave of the coronavirus threatens to overwhelm South Africa's health system.
"I called them back because we are in a peak period now, so it's not easy for the staff because they also want to go back to their family members," she told Reuters on the ward on Christmas Day.
"Sometimes they are tired but they never say 'I can't come to work'. The patient is really always first for them."
A confluence of school holidays, public laxity and a new, potentially more infectious variant of the virus has left authorities scrambling to counter an earlier-than-expected resurgence of infections that saw new daily cases spike nearly seven-fold from a month ago to top 14,305 on Dec. 24.
Amid the beeps of monitors and ventilators, 60-year-old Odendaal said the situation was getting worse as hospital beds filled up quickly.
Several countries, including Britain which has found the mutant variant in cases linked to South Africa, have banned flights from the country, disrupting holiday travel plans and frustrating tour operators.
The latest data showed the infection tally so far rising to 968,563 on Thursday. If the trajectory continues, South Africa would breach the million mark as early as Sunday, a Reuters tally showed.
South Africa has recorded 25,983 deaths, the highest figure on the continent.
EMOTIONAL TOLL
At Cape Town's Groote Schuur public hospital, where the world's first human-to-human heart transplant was performed in 1967, intensive care nurse Verna Collins said she was physically and emotionally drained.
"We thought we were at the end in October, early November, and now this dark cloud is circling again, so emotionally it takes a lot out of the nursing staff," Collins said outside the hospital on a brief break from the COVID-19 ICU ward, which has reached capacity.
Dressed in theatre scrubs and a red Santa hat, the mother of one said she had been scheduled to work on Christmas Day but several of her workmates had had to cancel their holiday plans after being called back.
Private hospital group Mediclinic said the number of patients seeking care at its hospitals in Western Cape and rising incidents in KwaZulu Natal and Gauteng had already exceeded those in the first peak and the majority of its ICU and high care units were operating at full capacity.
"With the new strain we saw that the patients are not recovering so easy and this is a problem," said matron Odendaal.
During the first wave earlier this year, her hospital had fewer ICU patients, but now "they do not respond well under treatment so they do end up in ICU 90% of the times."
Reuters
Sat Dec 26 2020
A medical staff attends to a COVID-19 patient at a special ward at Arwyp Medical Centre, as South Africa is about the reach a milestone of 1 million infections, in Kempton Park, South Africa, December 25, 2020. REUTERS/Shafiek Tassiem
Menteri Indonesia bincang isu pekerja migran dengan rakan sejawat dari Malaysia
Fauziyah harap Steven akan membawa penambahbaikan kepada dasar berkaitan tenaga kerja Indonesia.
Pahang peruntuk RM1.5 juta bantuan tunai bakal jemaah haji
Sebanyak 1,588 jemaah haji Pahang menerima sumbangan 'duit poket' berjumlah RM750 seorang bagi membantu meringankan beban bakal haji dalam melakukan persiapan melaksanakan rukun Islam kelima itu.
PRK Kuala Kubu Baharu: Pengundi jangan mudah percaya taktik fitnah - Ramanan
Ramanan berkata pengundi perlu lebih berhati-hati, dan sentiasa menyemak fakta apabila mendengar kempen politik yang dilakukan pihak lawan.
KEDA berhasrat tanam padi wangi, padi huma tahun ini
Lembaga Kemajuan Wilayah Kedah (KEDA) berhasrat membangunkan tanaman padi wangi dan padi huma di beberapa kawasan pertanian dalam wilayahnya, tahun ini.
Mesyuarat perundingan Enam Pihak Arab bincangkan perkembangan di Gaza
Mesyuarat perundingan Jawatankuasa Enam Pihak Arab itu membincangkan perkembangan serangan Israel ke atas Semenanjung Gaza.
Chegubard didakwa di Mahkamah Sesyen KL esok - Peguam
Badrul Hisham Shaharin atau dikenali Chegubard akan didakwa di Mahkamah Sesyen Kuala Lumpur esok atas pertuduhan memfitnah dan menghasut.
Pulau Pinang, kerajaan pusat bekerjasama tarik pelaburan semikonduktor
Kerajaan Pulau Pinang akan bekerjasama dengan Kerajaan Persekutuan untuk meneruskan usaha menarik pelaburan dalam sektor semikonduktor, termasuk segmen reka bentuk litar bersepadu (IC) di negeri itu.
Rakyat Malaysia di Jordan jadi duta produk PMKS negara
Menteri Pembangunan Usahawan dan Koperasi Datuk Ewon Benedick menyarankan rakyat Malaysia yang menetap di Jordan supaya memainkan peranan sebagai “duta” untuk mempromosikan produk perusahaan mikro kecil dan sederhana (PMKS) SERTA koperasi negara.
Mohamed Khaled tiba di Indonesia, dijadual bertemu Prabowo
Menteri Pertahanan Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin tiba di Jakarta hari ini untuk lawatan kerja rasmi sulung beliau ke Indonesia sejak memegang jawatan itu.
SPRM mohon maklumat dari Jerman
Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) memohon maklumat terkini daripada pihak berkuasa Jerman mengenai dana bon 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) yang dipercayai digunakan untuk membeli kereta mewah di negara itu pada 26 Okt 2022.
Solange Knowles batal persembahan di Afropunk, derita gangguan saraf otonom
Solange Knowles membatalkan persembahannya di Afropunk Fest pada malam tahun baharu.
Pendakwa Raya rayu hukuman lebih berat ke atas Pistorius
Barisan Pendakwa Raya berkata hukuman yang kini dijalani Pistorius tidak setimpal dengan jenayah yang dilakukannya.
Nelson Mandela meninggal dunia dengan tenang, dikelilingi keluarga
Berita kematiannya diumumkan dengan nada sebak oleh Presiden Afrika Selatan, Jacob Zuma secara langsung pada awal pagi ini.
Mandela: daripada banduan kepada Presiden
Mandela meninggal dunia dengan tenang di rumahnya di Johannesburg pada usia 95 selepas berada dalam keadaan kritikal selepas menerima rawatan untuk jangkitan paru-paru.
Filem Mandela ditayangkan di Afrika Selatan
Filem yang mengangkat kisah hidup Nelson Mandela ditayangkan di Afrika Selatan sekaligus membuka semula ingatan tentang sejarah.