UKZN release findings on Covid-19 outbreak at St Augustine’s

AFTER the Covid-19 outbreak that led Netcare St Augustine’s Hospital to close their doors, the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) has found that the virus was  introduced into the hospital in early March when a patient was assessed for Covid-19 in the emergency department at the same time that another patient was admitted with a suspected stroke.

UKZN released their findings on Wednesday as many searched for answers to the outbreak that infected 119 people including 80 staff and 39 patients, 15 of which died.

The investigation was led by UKZN academics, Dr Richard Lessells, Professor Yunus Moosa and Professor Tulio de Oliveira, bringing together expertise in infectious diseases, epidemiology and viral genomics.

Investigation methods included medical record reviews, ward visits, and interviews with health care workers and management, said Lessells.

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“Our findings highlighted how easily and quickly this virus can spread through a hospital. The initial spread of the virus was not recognised at the time, because the first patient who we think was infected in the emergency department was not initially suspected of having Covid-19. She did not have any of the typical risk factors and initially only had fever without cough or other respiratory symptoms. By the time she was diagnosed with Covid-19 and the hospital began responding to the outbreak, several other patients and health care workers had already been infected,” he said.

Professor de Oliveira added: “Overall, we estimate that the hospital outbreak and its spread to these other institutions accounted for about 14 percent of Covid-19 cases in KwaZulu‐Natal reported up to 30 April. This highlights the risk that outbreaks like this become what we call ‘amplifiers’ of transmission, that is they fuel transmission in the wider community”.

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Although the case fatality rate was very high, almost all the deaths were associated with the recognised risk factors such as older age and chronic health conditions

Professor Moosa said infection prevention and control (IPC) systems will reducing the risk of similar outbreaks.

“We call on management to promote a culture in which IPC is everyone’s responsibility and that everyone has a role to play,” added Moosa.

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