Tag: South Africa

Catching the Omicron variant may help people fend off Delta and usher in the endemic stage of Covid, new research suggests.

A pre-print study from South Africa published on Tuesday has found that the risk of being hospitalised with Omicron is just a fifth of the risk with Delta. Yet SAGE continues to call for lockdown.

Despite being in the epicentre of Omicron, South Africa's 'SAGE' committee has told the Government to end all contact tracing and self-isolation of contacts for Covid because it is unnecessary and ineffective.

Is it really true that Omicron is surging and warrants the Prime Minister breaking his promise that the lifting of restrictions in the summer was "irreversible"? Not according to the latest data.

The fact that Omicron is not able to push Delta out completely, combined with the as-yet muted spike in positivity, is further evidence that natural immunity is holding Omicron off to a similar degree to Delta.

While UK reported infections have spiked this week, the positive rate is only slightly up, and South Africa has confirmed Omicron appears to be mild. Can we stop panicking yet?

A recent study from South Africa shows that those infected with the Omicron strain are less likely to be hospitalised compared with those infected with the Delta and original Wuhan variants.

Is that it? The original epicentre of the Omicron outbreak in South Africa, Gauteng province, has not seen reported daily infections increase for four days now.

Recent data gathered from South African hospitals unveils that the Omicron variant, while potentially being more transmissible, is less likely to inflict severe illness.

The looting in South Africa was triggered by last week's arrest of Jacob Zuma. But it's worth considering whether lockdown is a factor too. South Africa's GDP fell 7% last year, and unemployment stands at 32.6%