The 20% or so positive results puts the actual infection rate at above 7000 for the past month alone.
World Health Organization spokesman Gregory Härtl said SA was “unusual” in that the “upswing” in infections came near the end of winter: in the rest of the Southern Hemisphere cases had spiked early in winter.
SHOOT: So if you get the flu and start to feel lousy, you might remember people have been saying: "Oh, it's no big deal. People are exaggerating." Johan Hack was sick for 2 weeks:
Lisa Weyers, whose fiancé, Johann Hack, was killed by the virus, said the former paramedic had had flu symptoms for about two weeks before his death on August 4.
He was initially diagnosed with bronchitis and felt better after seeing a doctor.
But Weyers said the 42-year-old was rushed to a hospital in Somerset West, near Cape Town, after she awoke to hear him struggling to breathe.
South Africa is now the world hub of the swine flu pandemic as the country’s infection rate continues to rise. By yesterday, the death toll from the virus had risen to four after a pregnant woman died in Durban.
While the number of confirmed cases was close to 2000, the actual number of infections could be well over 7000.
Laboratories this week said there had been a “dramatic” increase in requests for tests for the virus. And results from private laboratories showed that the infection rate was likely to be more than three times the official figures from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).
The institute’s spokesman, Nombuso Shabalala, said the discrepancy could be explained by the fact that the NICD was no longer confirming all cases. She added that the infection rate was “likely to be fairly high”.
Shabalala said the laboratory was processing between 20 and 30 samples daily.
Of these, about 20% were positive.
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