SARS-CoV-2 infection among healthcare workers in South Africa: a longitudinal cohort study.

From April to September 2020, we investigated SARS-CoV-2 infections in a cohort of 396 healthcare workers (HCWs) from five departments at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, South Africa. Overall, 34.6% of HCWs had PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (132.1 [95%CI: 111.8, 156.2] per 1,000 person-months), an additional 27 infections were identified by serology. HCWs in the Internal Medicine department had the highest rate of infection (61.7%). Among PCR-confirmed cases, 10.4% remained asymptomatic, 30.4% were pre-symptomatic and 59.3% symptomatic.