Several early studies have indicated that the new variant might be milder in severity, but that it's more infectious than previous strains.
South Africa on Friday reported that the Omicron COVID variant was multiplying at a much quicker rate than Delta, but also that it had caused a much lower rate of hospital admissions and deaths than at a comparable time during the Delta wave in the winter.
Several early studies have indicated that the new variant might be milder in severity, but more infectious than previous strains. New infections in South Africa this week have been up to more than 26,000 a day, compared with 4,400 in the same week of the third wave. "We are really seeing very small increases in the number of deaths," Michelle Groome, the head of health surveillance for the country's National Institute for Communicable Diseases , said, according toHealth officials say that the number of COVID hospitalizations at the moment is higher because there is more room in hospitals to admit patients with milder symptoms. They added that many are there for other reasons, but may have tested positive for the disease while in hospital.
There was some other data analysis earlier this week that compared new Omicron hospitalizations to South Africa's first wave of COVID, before the emergence of Delta.
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