South Africa Sees Milder Disease From Omicron
Israel is set to offer a fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to older people and healthcare workers to reduce the impact of an expected surge of infections driven by the Omicron variant—as South African scientists reported further evidence that the variant causes significantly less serious disease than earlier strains.
South African researchers said they estimate the risk of hospitalization with Omicron is around 70% to 80% lower than with the earlier Delta strain, a promising sign that immunity from prior infection or vaccination offers substantial protection against severe illness.
The findings, published online in a paper that has yet to be peer reviewed, offer further tentative evidence that Omicron infections tend to be milder in populations with high levels of immunity.
Waasila Jassat, a public-health specialist at the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, said there had been no significant increases in admissions to critical-care wards recorded over the past four weeks when Omicron has driven case numbers in the country sharply higher.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/south-africa-sees-milder-disease-from-omicron/ar-AAS2Nld