Covid under control, but chronic symptoms still cause for concern

While the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa remains with us, albeit under control, there is another matter of concern.

The issue around chronic symptoms is something that needs to be given attention, according to Prof Mosa Moshabela, the Dean of Nursing and Public Health at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).

The first Covid-19 case in South Africa was recorded in March 2020, and in no time the number of people testing positive increased dramatically leading to a lot of deaths too.

However, less has been said recently about the number of positive cases as government appeared to have the situation under control.

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Chronic symptoms remain

There are people who have had Covid, both knowingly and unknowingly, who are now suffering the consequences thereof, Moshabela said when speaking to The Citizen.

“Some of those most common chronic symptoms include memory loss, shortness of breath, tiredness and lack of strength and in some cases that can lead to disability.

“While we have the pandemic under control here in South Africa, thanks to the lessons and experiences learnt, we need to pay serious attention to this Covid consequence concern.”

Testing for the virus remains important Moshabela says. But due to people believing infection rates are down and the seriousness of infections have diminished, testing levels have also declined.

“We might also be missing some cases as a result of the low levels of testing due to the fact that testing is also not easily accessible.

“We would like to make an appeal to the public to make use at home of the self-testing kit which has been approved by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA),” Moshabela advised.

Pandemic’s back not completely broken

When one looks at what’s happening globally, particularly in a country like China where strict lockdown rules remain in place due to large levels of vulnerability, we should all realise that the pandemic is not yet over, Moshabela says.

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“We are still seeing subvariants since November last year, and these variants have been trying to evolve, but they have been circulating at low levels.

“The chances of us seeing the worst of the pandemic are relatively small, largely to the experiences we learnt from when the virus hit our shores in 2020, but we are continuing to monitor the situation so that we can react quicker in the event of any eventuality because we also now have the necessary tools to respond,” Mosa said.

In recent week, there has been a slight uptick in Covid-19 cases in the country though this is also erratic, said Dr Angelique Coetzee, another medical expert who once headed the board of the South African Medical Association (SAMA).

“For example, this week there we have not seen a lot of positive cases in comparison with last week, so it’s not constant and we do test, but the problem is any patient suffering from a cold-like symptom like a runny nose, a bit of a sore throat, and a bit of a cough, needs to test, especially if they have been vaccinated more than six months ago.

“People also need to take note that if you have vaccinated more six months ago, your immune system starts to drop and, therefore, need to double-check, as you cannot distinguish between Covid and a cold, a flu, and even the diarrhoea that we are seeing, so you have to test,” said Coetzee.

Why should you test even if you only have mild symptoms?

The problem lies with the long-term consequences regardless of age, Coetzee said, echoing Moshabela’s sentiments.

“The problem with long Covid side effects is that the data is quite clear that the patients are at quite high risk of cardiovascular symptoms within a year after they have had Covid, as well as an increase in diabetes and neurological symptoms.

“So, if you didn’t test when you had your colds and flus, and you thought it was not something serious, and it actually was Covid and you present about a month later with some symptoms of long Covid, then it becomes very difficult for the doctors to say that this is related to Covid,” Coetzee warned.