Andrew Boulle and colleagues at the Western Cape Government Health Department and the University of Cape Town in South Africa will use a data science approach applied to anonymised COVID-19 health data from the government health department including over one million tests and 60,000 hospital admissions, to study the clinical epidemiology and evolution of a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 that emerged in South Africa and the impact on patients with existing health conditions. They will conduct a case-control study to determine the clinical severity of the variant and use a cross-sectional design to explore the evolution of viral load. They will also analyse the impact of COVID-19 on pregnancy by evaluating birth weight and other birth outcomes, such as still births, and use death registries to determine mortality rates in patients with HIV, TB, and diabetes.
To understand COVID-19 evolution and impact, also on pregnancy and chronic diseases, by applying a data science approach to health data to study the clinical epidemiology and evolution of a new SARS-CoV-2 variant, which emerged in South Africa.