Dödligt virus från Kina orsakar panik (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19)

South African hospital sees less serious disease, coming end of Omicron surge. 63% of Omicron patients were hospitalized for other reasons, with the virus only detected by mandatory tests

With the new variant now prevalent worldwide, South Africa is providing clues to life after Omicron. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government has said the country’s fourth Covid-19 wave has peaked. Total excess deaths attributed to Omicron are about 10,000, compared with about 110,000 excess deaths during the previous, Delta-driven wave.

Even though three-quarters of all South Africans are still not double jabbed against Covid-19, vaccinations, immunity after previous infections and signs that Omicron is a milder disease appear to have kept the pressure off hospitals.

“The most important issue is that there was a clear decoupling between community spread, which has been very rapid, and the level of hospital admissions,” said Richard Friedland, chief executive of Netcare, South Africa’s biggest provider of private healthcare. “We have not suspended elective surgeries, and there is no pressure on beds . . . We have had no capacity constraints at all in the fourth wave.”

The typical time patients stayed in hospital remained at about three days under Omicron, compared with about seven days in the other waves, he added.