Burden of SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe illness in South Africa (March 2020-August 2022): a synthesis of epidemiological data.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Data on the burden of SARS-CoV-2 infections by age group and for different severity levels are lacking. We estimated the South African SARS-CoV-2 disease burden and severity, describing changes in the shape of the disease burden pyramid with successive waves.

Methods

We estimated SARS-CoV-2 medically and non-medically attended illness stratified by severity (mild, severe non-fatal and fatal) during the initial five waves, spanning 1 March 2020 through 13 August 2022. We used individual-level national surveillance, healthcare utilisation and serosurvey data to estimate wave-specific hospitalisation-fatality (HFR) and infection-fatality ratios. We estimated wave-specific incidence rates per 100 000 population with 95% CIs derived from bootstrapping the individual-

SUBMITTER: Bolton L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12645600 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature