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South African scientists - praised internationally for first detecting the Omicron variant - have accused Western nations of ignoring early evidence that the new Covid variant was "dramatically" milder than those which drove previous waves of the pandemic.
Two of South Africa's most prominent coronavirus experts told the BBC that Western scepticism about their work could be construed as "racist," or, at least, a refusal "to believe the science because it came from Africa".
"It seems like high-income countries are much more able to absorb bad news that comes from countries like South Africa," said Prof Shabir Madhi, a vaccine expert at Johannesburg's University of the Witwatersrand.
"When we're providing good news, all of a sudden there's a whole lot of scepticism. I would call that racism."
Prof Salim Karim, former head of the South African government's Covid advisory committee and vice-president of the International Science Council agrees.
"We need to learn from each other. Our research is rigorous. Everyone was expecting the worst [about Omicron] and when they weren't seeing it, they were questioning whether our observations were sufficiently scientifically rigorous," he said, while acknowledging that the sheer number of new mutations in Omicron may have contributed to an abundance of scientific caution.
"The predictions we made at the start of December still hold. Omicron was less severe. Dramatically. The virus is evolving to adapt to the human host, to become like a seasonal virus," said Prof Marta Nunes, senior researcher at the Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics department of the University of Witwatersrand.
The WHO continues to warn against calling Omicron "mild," pointing out that its high transmissibility was causing a "tsunami" worldwide, threatening to overwhelm health systems.
But South African scientists are sticking by their data.
"The death rate is completely different [with Omicron]. We've seen a very low mortality rate," said Prof Karim, who pointed to the latest data showing hospital admissions were four times lower than with Delta, and the number of patients requiring ventilation was similarly reduced.
"It didn't take even two weeks before the first evidence started coming out that this is a much milder condition. And when we shared that with the world there was some scepticism," Prof Karim added.
It has been argued that Africa - or at least some parts of the continent - may be experiencing the pandemic differently due to demographics and other factors. South Africa's average age, for instance, is 17 years younger than the UK's.
But scientists in South Africa insist that any demographic advantage the population might have in terms of battling Covid is outweighed by poor health. Excess deaths in South Africa during the pandemic now sit at 290,000 - or 480 per 100,000 people - which is more than double the UK figure.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-60039138
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South Africa’s surge in coronavirus cases due to the Omicron variant has fallen as sharply as it increased, with its fourth wave now considered “over.”
The variant was first identified by researchers in South Africa about 8 weeks ago, and infections spread quickly across the globe. The country is now returning to a semblance of normalcy, with busy restaurants and businesses, CBS News reported.
The news offers hope for other countries that their Omicron surges may soon be over. That said, hospitalizations and deaths didn’t increase as much in South Africa as they have elsewhere, CBS News noted.
During the Delta variant wave 6 months ago, South Africa’s hospitals were overwhelmed, with intensive care unit beds and oxygen running out, the news outlet reported. But during the recent Omicron variant wave, hospitals didn’t fill, and few patients needed oxygen.
“I think life in 2022 will be almost back to before the pandemic,” he said. “Should a new variant or old variant come along, for most of us, like any other common cold coronavirus, we’ll get the sniffles and a bit of a headache, and then we’re OK.”
https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20220119/omicron-wave-south-africa
