Omicron variant may be more dangerous than delta, says South African expert

The omicron variant of the coronavirus detected in southern Africa may be the most likely candidate to supplant the highly contagious delta variant, said on Tuesday (30) the director of the Institute of Communicable Diseases in South Africa.

The discovery of the omicron has caused worldwide alarm, and countries are limiting the entry of travelers from southern Africa for fear that it will spread quickly even in vaccinated populations. The WHO (World Health Organization) states that the variant carries a great risk of an increase in the number of infections.

“Do we believe it will be stronger than delta? That has always been the question, at least in terms of transmissibility — perhaps this specific variant is the variant,” said Adrian Puren, acting executive director of the National Institute of Communicable Diseases in Africa Republic (NICD), in an interview with Reuters.

If omicron proves even more contagious than delta, it could lead to a strong spike in contagion, which would put hospitals under pressure.

Puren said scientists should know within four weeks to what extent the omicron will be able to evade immunity generated by vaccines or previous infections, and whether it will lead to clinical symptoms worse than those of other strains.

Incidental reports from doctors treating South African Covid-19 patients point out that the omicron appears to be producing mild symptoms, including a dry cough, fever and night sweats, but experts cautioned against drawing firm conclusions from these observations.

Puren said it was too early to say whether omicron was replacing delta in South Africa, because local scientists had sequenced only 87 samples of the new variant so far.

But the fact that the number of cases has started to rise rapidly, especially in Gauteng province, the country’s most populous, is a sign that a certain amount of substitution is already taking place.

The delta variant fueled a third wave of Covid-19 infections in South Africa that peaked at more than 26,000 daily cases in early July. The omicron is expected to set off a fourth wave, with daily contagions surpassing 10,000 cases at the end of the week, compared to 2,270 on Monday.

Anne von Gottberg, a clinical microbiologist at the NICD, said it appeared that the number of infections was on the rise across the country.

On Monday (29), a presentation by the NICD pointed to a large number of admissions for Covid-19 among children under two years of age as an area of ​​concern. But von Gottberg cautioned against linking this fact to the omicron, at least for the time being.

“In fact, it appears that some of these admissions started before the appearance of omicrons. We are also seeing an increase in the number of flu cases, in the past 30 days or so, and we need to be very careful when contemplating other respiratory infections,” she said. .

“We’re looking at the data very, very carefully, but at the moment I’m not really sure we can link it to the omicron,” she added.

South Africa was commended for alerting the world scientific community and the WHO so quickly to omicron — a courageous decision considering the damage that travel restrictions imposed by several countries, including the UK, will do to the important sector. of its economy.

The country reported more than 3 million cases of Covid-19 infection during the pandemic, and more than 89,000 deaths, the highest total on the African continent.

Translated by Paulo Migliacci.