Content
- Omicron variant in South Africa: good news arrives
- Omicron: faster and less risky
- Mortality from omicron variant infection: ten times lower than that of delta
- Covid 19 South Africa: cautious optimism
- Omicron variant: the situation in Italy
Omicron variant in South Africa: the latest data from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases of South Africa comes good news. In fact, it seems that the emergence of infections caused by the new South African variant will last much shorter than the one that had characterized the Delta variant. Omicron developed much faster than delta, but on the bright side, propagation has already peaked just over a month after its appearance, and then plummeted dramatically over the next two weeks.
To date, the South African variant - about two months after its appearance - is already in remission in South Africa. The data is particularly encouraging, considering the fact that it took delta 2, 3 months to reach the peak of infections and over 6 months to die out.
Omicron: faster and less risky
The speed with which the Omicron variant spread was far from good news; on the severity of the infection, the signs are encouraging: compared to infections caused by delta, it would seem that those caused by omicron would have an 80% less chance of hospitalization of the infected and 70% less of developing serious symptoms.
As for the Delta variant, even for the omicron, older subjects are more exposed, who risk developing more pronounced symptoms.
According to the opinion of Richard Friedland - director of the largest network of private clinics in South Africa -, reported in a note by Tiscali News, with the Omicron variant "a new category of patients has emerged, never appeared in the previous three waves, which we have labeled as incidental Covid ". These are less serious cases of hospitalization, which last approximately 2, 3 days.
Mortality from Omicron variant infection: ten times lower than that of delta
Mortality from infection with the Omicron variant is much lower than that from the Delta variant: 10 thousand deaths are attributed to omicron, compared to 110 thousand attributed to delta. This result depends on several factors: from a lower severity of the Omicron variant and from the development of antibodies in the South African population, during the previous waves of COVID-19 infections.
COVID-19 South Africa: cautious optimism
The data emerging from the study on the Omicron variant in South Africa therefore seem comforting, even if they must be considered with due precautions. Indeed, the South African experience cannot be transposed to different countries, where the impact of the variant could be different.
In this regard, it is important to consider that the population of South Africa is quite young: the average age in the country is in fact 27.6 years.
Omicron variant: the situation in Italy
In Italy, the situation relating to Omicron variant infections is different from that recorded in South Africa. The high percentage of the vaccinated population is able to offer greater protection than that of the South African population. It is also true that the Italian population is much older than the South African one - the average age of the Italian one is 20 years higher than the South African one.
Finally, it should be noted that in Italy, the Omicron variant was engaged at a time when the Delta variant is continuing to infect.
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