Between two devils: Why hospitals must act fast to prevent health worker deaths

South Africa could see a spike in health worker deaths if hospitals fail to enforce strict infection control to stop the cause of COVID-19, the SARS-CoV-2 virus, from spreading in facilities, warn the investigators of a coronavirus disease outbreak at Netcare St Augustine’s Hospital in Durban.

The study, which Bhekisisa has seen, was conducted by researchers at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s (UKZN) Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine and the KwaZulu‐Natal Research Innovation & Sequencing Platform, Krisp.

A single COVID-19 patient admitted to the hospital’s emergency ward led to at least 135 infections in the hospital complex and at a nursing home between 9 March and 30 April. These cases eventually made up 14% of KwaZulu-Natal’s total number of COVID-19 infections by the end of April, the document reveals…..more

This was a private hospital. What will happen in public hospitals?