South African Scientists Say There Are No Signs That Omicron Causes More Severe Disease

JAKARTA - South African scientists say there is no sign yet that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus causes more severe disease.

Although scientists say more time is needed to come to a definitive conclusion, South Africa's Health Minister Joe Phaahla said there were no signs of the severity of COVID-19 due to the Omicron variant.

"Initial data do show that while there has been an increase in hospitalization rates ... it seems that it is purely due to the number of cases rather than as a result of the severity of this Omicron variant," Phaahla said as quoted by Antara, Saturday.

South Africa warned the world about Omicron late last month, sparking alarms that a highly mutated variant could trigger a new spike in global infections.

Hospital data show that COVID-19 patient admissions are now rising sharply in more than half of the country's nine provinces, but deaths have not increased dramatically and indicators such as average length of hospital stay are relatively safe.

In recent days, the national outbreak associated with the Omicron variant has infected about 20,000 people per day, with 19,018 new COVID-19 cases reported as of Thursday, December 9, according to data from South Africa's National Institute of Infectious Diseases.

The data recorded just 20 new deaths.

Previously, South Africa recorded a record peak of more than 26,000 daily cases during the third wave of the coronavirus triggered by the Delta variant.

South Africa has fully vaccinated about 38 percent of adults, or more than in many other African countries, but is far from the government's year-end target.

Recently, South Africa delayed some vaccine shipments due to oversupply due to slow vaccination rates.

Deputy Director General of the South African Ministry of Health, Nicholas Crisp, said that the booster injection of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be available to people six months after they receive the second dose.

The Johnson & Johnson Booster, which is already available to healthcare workers in research studies, will soon be rolling out to other community groups.

Crisp argues that offering boosters is a way to deplete vaccine stocks.

"We don't need to take the vaccine. It is expensive and we will only use the vaccine if there is a reason to do so," he said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that boosters be given to people whose immunity is compromised or has received an inactivated COVID-19 vaccine to protect against decreased immunity.

However, WHO insists that primary dose administration should be a priority given that vaccination rates are still very low in many developing countries.

A small study from a South African research institute this week showed that Omicron could partially evade protection from two doses of Pfizer vaccine, but the company and its partner, BioNTech, say that three doses of the vaccine can neutralize Omicron infection.