Monday 28 / April / 2025
Scientists in South Africa say they see no sign that the omicron variant of the coronavirus is causing more severe illness.
"Preliminary data does suggest that while there is an increasing rate of hospitalization ... it looks like it is purely because of the numbers rather than as a result of any severity of the variant itself, this omicron," Health Minister Joe Phaahla said on Friday.
In fact, early hospital data from the country shows less than a third of patients admitted to hospital during the latest wave linked to the omicron variant are suffering severe illness, compared with two-thirds in the last two waves.
In the past few days, a nationwide outbreak linked to omicron has been infecting around 20,000 people a day.
In the country's worst-hit region — Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg and Pretoria — the number of cases rose by 400% week-on-week.
Tests showed that the omicron variant was behind about 70% of the cases.
South Africa alerted the world to omicron late last month, prompting alarm that the highly mutated variant could trigger a new surge in global infections.
A small study from a South African research institute this week suggested that omicron could partially evade protection from two doses of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine.
But the two companies say a three-shot course of their vaccine can neutralize omicron in the laboratory.
A similar UK study found that a third booster shot reduces by up to 75% the chance of experiencing mild COVID symptoms. Israeli researchers also said Saturday they found that a three-shot course of the BioNTech-Pfizer jab provided significant protection against the new omicron variant.
