JOHANNESBURG (AP) – Dr. Sikhulile Moyo was examining COVID-19 samples in his laboratory in Botswana last week when he realized they were strikingly different from those previously detected.
Within days, the world was stunned by the news that the coronavirus had a new variant of concern, one that appears to be causing a sharp increase in cases in South Africa and offering a glimpse of where the pandemic could be headed.
New recorded COVID-19 cases in South Africa have risen from about 200 a day in mid-November to more than 16,000 on Friday.
The omicron variant was detected more than a week ago in the country’s most populous province, Gauteng, and has since spread to the other eight provinces, Health Minister Joe Phaahla said.
Even with the fast pace of contagion, confirmed infections are still below the 25,000 new daily cases recorded by South Africa in the previous rebound, in June and July.
Little is known about the new variant, but the outbreak in South Africa indicates it could be more contagious, said Moyo, the scientist who may have been the first to identify the new variant, although researchers in neighboring South Africa were hot on his heels.
Ómicron has more than 50 mutations, and scientists have called it a huge leap in the evolution of the virus.
It is not clear if the variant causes more serious disease or if it can evade the protection provided by vaccines. Phaahla noted that only a small number of vaccinated people have become ill with the new variant, mostly with mild cases, while the vast majority of those who have been hospitalized were not vaccinated.
However, South African scientists reported that the omicron variant appears to cause more reinfections among people who have already had an episode of COVID-19.
“A previous infection used to protect against delta, and now with omicron this does not seem to be the case,” said one of the researchers, Anne von Gottberg, of the University of the Witwatersrand, at a World Health Organization briefing on Thursday.
Although the study did not examine the protection offered by vaccination, Von Gottberg said that “we believe that vaccines continue to protect against serious disease.”
The results, published online Thursday, are preliminary and have not yet undergone a scientific review.
South African hospitals may face the wave of infections at the moment, including those in Gauteng province, where more than 70% of new infections occur, Phaahla said.
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