South Africa attacked by Omicron may have a glimpse of the future

Dr. JOHANNESBURG-Sikhulile Moyo was analyzing the COVID-19 sample in his laboratory in Botswana last week and found that it looked surprisingly different from the other samples.

In a few days, the world coronavirus There were new concerns that could give a glimpse of where the pandemic is heading, causing a dramatic surge in South Africa.

The number of new COVID-19 cases in South Africa surged from about 200 per day in mid-November to more than 16,000 on Friday. Omicron was discovered more than a week ago in Gauteng, the country’s most populous state, and has since spread to all eight other states, said Health Minister Jofarla.

Despite the rapid increase, infectious diseases are still below the 25,000 new daily cases reported by South Africa in the previous surge in June and July.

Little is known about the new variant, but the surge in South Africa suggests that it may be more contagious, and a neighboring South African researcher was right behind him. But Moyo, a scientist who may have first identified a new variant, said. There are more than 50 mutations in Omicron, which scientists call a major leap in the evolution of the virus.

It is not clear whether the variants cause more serious illness or can avoid vaccine protection. Phaahla said that only a few vaccinated people became ill, most were mild cases, and the majority of hospitalized people were unvaccinated.

However, in an anxious development, South African scientists reported that Omicron was more likely to cause reinfection among people already infected with COVID-19 than previous variants.

“Previous infections were used to protect against deltas, but now it doesn’t seem to be the case at Omicron,” one of the researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand, Ann von Gottberg, said at a World Health Organization briefing Thursday. “.

Although the study did not consider vaccination precautions, von Gottberg said:

The findings posted online on Thursday are preliminary and have not yet been scientifically reviewed.

South African hospitals have dealt with the surge so far, and even hospitals in Gauteng account for more than 70% of all new infections, Fara said.

The situation can change, as most people infected so far are young and generally less ill than older patients. However, Moyo expressed hope that the vaccine would continue to work against this variant.

“I have a lot of hope from the data we see that vaccinated people should be able to get a lot of protection,” he said.

This is consistent with what WHO officials in Asia said on Friday.

While warning that cases could grow rapidly due to Omicron, Dr. Takeshi Kasai, WHO Regional Director of the Western Pacific, was used for delta variants that themselves caused a surge around the world. He said that the measures should remain at the center of the response.

“All this positive news is that none of the information we currently have about Omicron suggests that we need to change the direction of our response,” Kasai said. ..

This means adhering to social distance guidelines and continuing to promote improved immunization rates, such as wearing masks, said Dr. Babatunde Olowokure, Director of WHO Regional Emergency Bureau.

More than 30 countries around the world have reported Omicron infections, but so far the numbers are low outside South Africa. As a result, many countries are competing to impose travel bans on visitors from southern Africa.

South Africa has severely criticized the travel ban, saying that South Africa is highly transparent and has been punished for moving very quickly to warn the world of Omicron. WHO said it was notified by the state of the new variant on November 24th.

“We must emphasize that while our scientists and Botswana scientists first discovered and reported this variant, no one knows where it came from. “Fara said.

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