As Covid-19 cases rise, hospital admissions drop

It has been revealed that, as of December 25, over 148 positive persons have been hospitalised countrywide despite over 5,400 cases reported in the week 20-26 December 2021.

The Executive Director of Mulago National Referral Hospital and also the head of the Covid-19 treatment facility, Dr. Rose Byanyima, says those admitted to treatment facilities across the country do not reflect the growing number of positive cases in Uganda.

“At Mulago, we have 30 patients admitted as of yesterday and of these only 2 are admitted to the ICU while others are at the High Dependency Unit. We are seeing fewer patients at the moment compared to before but this situation can easily change,” she said.

According to Ministry of Health reports, Entebbe General Hospital (EGH) has 118 Covid-19 cases as of yesterday.

The Principal Hospital Administrator of EGH, Mr. Muhammed Mubiru, says the patients are all receiving the necessary care they require to get well.

Prof Pontiano Kaleebu, the Executive Director of the Uganda Virus Research Institute, says that although admissions are low, this could be the lull before the storm and so the public must remain cautious in its optimism.

However, he also counseled against panic.

“Sequencing that we have recently carried out shows that Omicron is now the dominant variant in the country but we are still studying the variant to find out more about it. But as we do this, people should not panic. This variant is just like SARS-COV 2 and can be prevented by wearing a mask, washing hands, and avoiding public places,” he said.

Dr Mike Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organisation (WHO) health emergencies programme, believes, “There’s no doubt that the rising number and the force of infection will generate more hospitalisations in the coming weeks.”

Still, Dr. Byanyima says that those infected by Omicron might not need oxygen.

“During Delta, many patients had low levels of oxygen and needed support, that is why there was an increase in demand for it but now what we see is that many of these patients don’t require oxygen but present with other symptoms.”

The emergence of the Omicron variant in 118 countries has changed the course of the pandemic and put many of us in panic, but thankfully not in hospital.