Is Omicron associated with a milder disease?

Patients for Coronavirus in South Africa are on the rise in all regions, according to data. However, given the number of cases, they are not increasing as quickly as one might predict. Patients now require less oxygen and remain in the hospital for shorter periods of time. Adults affected early in the Omicron epidemic were around 30% less likely to be admitted to hospital than those diagnosed in South Africa’s first wave, according to Discovery Health, a major health provider there. However, senior South African experts argue that this does not prove the variation is milder.

The rate of vaccination and natural antibodies in the people is a significant variation from prior waves. Although two doses of vaccination or a past infection appear to be ineffective in preventing people from contracting the Omicron strain, they do appear to prevent from serious infection.

Dr Vicky Baillie, a senior scientist at Johannesburg’s Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital, believes the reduced rates of hospitalization are due to people’s increased immunity.

The WHO advises that the statistics suggesting the variation is milder could be skewed by the fact that the number of people admitted to hospitals is small, and the majority of those admitted are under the age of 40, meaning they are less likely to become very ill.

They may be in the hospital for various reasons, but South African hospitals examine everyone who is treated, resulting in a high number of mild cases being detected. It could possibly be because South Africans over 60 are far more likely than the general population to be vaccination, safeguarding them against serious disease.

South Africa also has a young population, with an average age of 27.6 years as opposed to 40.4 in the UK, thus its experience of Omicron may differ from that of older states. Dr. Baillie told the BBC that a limited number of children were admitted to her clinic because they were sick with Coronavirus, but that they returned in 2 or 3 days.