Omicron is already the dominant variant in Gauteng and is expected to soon be the case in the rest of the country. Research in Britain shows Omicron spreads much faster than Delta. The numbers double every three days, which means 2,500 daily cases could translate to 100,000 cases by Christmas.
According to a senior virologist working for the state, who doesn’t have permission to be quoted, the virus evolves to increase transmissibility rather than virulence. This process will continue even if most people have been vaccinated. “I suspect this is what happened with Omicron. If we’re lucky, this pattern will continue and we’ll eventually see Covid as not much more threatening than flu.”
However, he warns there is no certainty. “Next week we could discover a variant from hell. I don’t expect this to happen, but it could happen.”
Read the full article, and more news, analysis and interviews in this Friday's edition of Vrye Weekblad.
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Unless a more virulent and resistant covid-19 variant than Omicron emerges, it is likely the pandemic will disrupt lives and economies to a lesser extent in 2022 than feared. Two or three annual vaccinations may, however, be in store for all older and vulnerable people.
“Fully vaccinated” will soon mean three rather than two vaccinations. In SA people who have had two doses of Pfizer vaccine are now eligible for a third dose, while 12 to 17-year-olds can get a second dose. Pfizer/BioNTech’s research shows two doses of its vaccine are less effective against the Omicron variant than three doses.
There is increasing consensus among researchers that Omicron is considerably more transmissible than Delta, but causes less severe, more flu-like symptoms. It will be another week or two, three before this will be proven scientifically. If and when that happens we can expect most international travel bans to be lifted. Countries may prefer the Omicron variant to the Delta variant.
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Omicron is already the dominant variant in Gauteng and is expected to soon be the case in the rest of the country. Research in Britain shows Omicron spreads much faster than Delta. The numbers double every three days, which means 2,500 daily cases could translate to 100,000 cases by Christmas.
According to a senior virologist working for the state, who doesn’t have permission to be quoted, the virus evolves to increase transmissibility rather than virulence. This process will continue even if most people have been vaccinated. “I suspect this is what happened with Omicron. If we’re lucky, this pattern will continue and we’ll eventually see Covid as not much more threatening than flu.”
However, he warns there is no certainty. “Next week we could discover a variant from hell. I don’t expect this to happen, but it could happen.”
Read the full article, and more news, analysis and interviews in this Friday's edition of Vrye Weekblad.
TimesLIVE
Must-read articles in this week’s Vrye Weekblad
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