THE National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has recently revealed the racial divide in Covid-19 deaths, with Black Africans and coloureds more likely to succumb to the disease in South Africa.
“Race is for the first time reported to have an association with in-hospital mortality, with a higher risk of mortality in individuals who were Black African or coloured, compared to white individuals,” the NICD said.
The institution said a similar trend was observed in studies in the United States, where Blacks, Hispanics, and those from lower socio-economic status are more likely to die of Covid-19.
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The NICD’s latest report is based on 49 218 Covid-19 admissions reported from 380 facilities, 144 and 236 in the public and private sectors, respectively, between 5 March and 8 August.
Meanwhile, factors associated with in-hospital Covid-19 fatalities were also linked to older age groups, males and those with underlying conditions.
These include hypertension, diabetes, chronic cardiac disease, chronic renal disease, malignancy, HIV, tuberculosis and obesity.
“Trends in case fatality ratio (CFR) over time and provincial differences may be affected by many factors, such as hospital admission criteria, closing cases timeously, testing criteria in different provinces, and the severity of illness in admitted cases.”
The report also revealed that compared to the Western Cape, individuals hospitalised in the Eastern Cape and Free State provinces were more likely to die in-hospital, while individuals in Mpumalanga province were less likely to die.
Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting
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At the time of going to press, the contents of this feature mirrored South Africa’s lockdown regulations.
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