While Omicron appears to be extremely transmissible and has been shown to have a greater ability to evade immunity from vaccination and prior infection, there is some evidence the Omicron variant may cause less severe disease.
In Gauteng, NICD hospital surveillance data show that 1904 COVID cases were admitted last week, and 177 COVID patients are currently in ICU with 51 ventilated as of yesterday. Nationwide, 13 147 new cases were detected with a positivity rate of 24.86%. While the fourth wave is still in the early stages, with a higher proportion of younger patients who develop less severe disease, anecdotal evidence points to reduced severity with the Omicron variant.
According to the Financial Times, preliminary data from the Steve Biko and Tshwane District Hospital Complex showed that on December 2 only nine of the 42 patients on the COVID ward, all of whom were unvaccinated, were being treated for the virus and were in need of oxygen. The remainder of the patients were COVID positive but asymptomatic and were being treated for other conditions.
“My colleagues and I have all noticed this high number of patients on room air,” said Dr Fareed Abdullah, an infectious disease doctor at the Steve Biko hospital and a director of the South African Medical Research Council.
“You walked into a COVID ward any time in the past 18 months… you could hear the oxygen whooshing out of the wall sockets, you could hear the ventilators beeping… but now the vast majority of patients are like any other ward.”
US chief medical adviser Dr Anthony Fauci remarked that initial South African data was “a bit encouraging regarding the severity”.
“Thus far, it does not look like there’s a great degree of severity to it,” he said. “But we’ve really got to be careful before we make any determinations.” Existing vaccines could provide “a considerable degree” of protection against Omicron, he added.
A small positive note for South Africa was Dr Fauci saying the administration is reevaluating the travel ban on eight southern African countries as more becomes known about Omicron and its spread.
“That ban was done at a time when we were really in the dark – we had no idea what was going on,” he said.
