A study conducted in South Africa and published today revealed that individuals infected with the Omicron variant who have not received any vaccine may be less likely to experience severe symptoms, hospitalization, or death compared to previous strains of the coronavirus. The study, conducted by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in the Western Cape region and not yet peer-reviewed, compared approximately 11,600 patients from the first three waves of the pandemic with about 5,100 Omicron-infected individuals.
Omicron causes less severe symptoms and results in fewer deaths globally compared to earlier strains of the coronavirus. Scientists are trying to determine whether this is due to increased immunity from vaccination or previous infection with the virus, or if it is a result of the weakened nature of the new variant. The study concluded that the decrease in the risk of severe symptoms is attributed to the characteristics of the Omicron variant itself.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on Wednesday that the Omicron variant, which is spreading at a pace not seen since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, "remains a dangerous virus" despite causing less severe symptoms. During a press conference, he stated, "Although Omicron causes less severe symptoms than Delta (the variant that has been dominant until now), it remains a dangerous virus, especially for unvaccinated individuals."
This variant, discovered in South Africa at the end of November 2021, has since spread rapidly around the world at unprecedented levels since the start of the pandemic. The lower severity of Omicron symptoms, particularly for fully vaccinated individuals who have received a booster shot, compared to the Delta variant, has led some to consider it a "mild illness." Some hope that due to its fast spreading rate, Omicron will replace more severe variants and allow the pandemic to transition into a more manageable disease.
