COVID-19 cases among medical laboratory services staff in South Africa, 2020–2021: A cohort study

ABSTRACT: Medical laboratory workers may have an increased risk of COVID-19 due to their interaction with biological samples received for testing and contamination of documents. Records of COVID-19 laboratory-confirmed positive cases within the medical laboratory service were routinely collected in the company’s Occupational Health and Safety Information System (OHASIS). Surveillance data from the OHASIS system were extracted from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021. An epidemic curve was plotted and compared to that for the country, along with prevalence proportions and incidence rates. The odds of COVID-19 infection were categorised by job and compared to the US Occupational Risk Scores. A logistic regression model assessed the risk of COVID-19 infection per occupational group. A total of 2091 (26% of s

SUBMITTER: Wilson K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9205487 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature