Image: 123rf.com/betonstudio
Residents of a KwaZulu-Natal old age home are being tested for Covid-19 after an 81-year-old tested positive.
In a statement, health minister Zweli Mkhize confirmed that the octogenarian was in the intensive care unit and on a ventilator.
He highlighted her case as an illustration of how the country’s elderly were vulnerable to Covid-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus.
“The elderly population in our society is vulnerable. To illustrate this, in KwaZulu-Natal, one of the confirmed cases is an 81-year-old female who is now in ICU and on a ventilator. She initially presented with pneumonia and was admitted and treated as such. Because of the severity of the pneumonia, she was tested for Covid-19 and was confirmed.
“This elderly woman lives in an old age home. As a result, all other elderly people from this old age home are regarded as being vulnerable and are being tested. Those who will test positive will then be put in isolation,” he said.
Other vulnerable groups, said Mkhize, were those with underlying concomitant diseases, particularly those with HIV (especially those with a low CD4 count), chronic lung diseases (including TB, asthma and COPD), auto immune diseases of any kind, chronic kidney diseases, cancer or diabetes.
Smokers and “dependent alcohol consumers” were also at high risk.
“We encourage smokers to quit smoking and for those who drink alcohol, to do so moderately,” said Mkhize.