Kids under two now 10 per cent of hospital admissions in South Africa’s Omicron ground zero

A concerning pattern is emerging out of South Africa’s Omicron ground zero, with a surprising group apparently “more at risk”.

Children under the age of two now make up 10 per cent of hospital admissions in South Africa’s Omicron ground zero, alarming new data has revealed.

While the new variant was first detected in Botswana, South Africa has emerged as the strain’s epicentre, with the city of Tshwane in the Gauteng province one of the worst affected regions.

According to an analysis by South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), there has been a recent surge in Covid hospital admissions among toddlers.

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Speaking during a media briefing by the Department of Health this week, NICD’s Dr Waasila Jassat said young children seemed to be “more at risk”, although it was not yet clear if the surge in admissions was linked to Omicron.

“When you look at the numbers of admissions by age, what we normally see is a large number of admissions in older people,” she said.

“But in this early resurgence in Tshwane, we are seeing most admissions in the 0-2 age group. And we are seeing a large number of admissions in the middle ages, sort of around 28 to 38.

“It is important to note that while we do hospital surge preparedness, this time we may need to look at the paediatric preparedness but there are no signals that the children are severely sick.

The Omicron variant, first detected in Botswana, is spreading across southern Africa and beyond. Picture: Tafadzwa Ufumeli/Getty Images

“We are not sure if (the increase in admissions among children) is related to variants currently circulating.”

Dr Jassat said the trend could be because children under 12 were not vaccinated, and also because parents were more concerned about the new variant, and therefore more likely to take their children to hospital at the first signs of illness.

“The very young children have an immature immune system and they are also not vaccinated, so they are more at risk,” she added.

In the past week, data shows Gauteng province recorded 580 hospitalisations in total, a huge spike compared to the 135 the previous week.

Dr Jassat also said 52 children under the age of two diagnosed with Covid have been treated in hospital in the province, and one has died.

Although it’s not yet known which strain the children were infected with, it seems likely many would be Omnicron, as it is now the dominant strain in the area.

Many nations have introduced travel bans and restrictions in response to Omicron. Picture: Robyn Beck/AFP

Many nations across the world – including Australia – have closed their borders to a string of impacted African nations in a desperate attempt to keep Omicron at bay.

However, that move has been slammed by the World Health Organisation, which said travel bans could be counter-productive.

“South Africa and Botswana should be thanked for detecting, sequencing and reporting this variant; not penalised,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the opening of the 74th World Health Assembly.

“Indeed, Omicron demonstrates just why the world needs a new accord on pandemics.

“Our current system disincentivises countries from alerting others to threats that will inevitably land on their shores.”