New Omicron variant: Experts ask for calm

As South Africa reels from the impact of Omicron – the latest Covid variant to be reported – the country’s top scientists and medical experts have called on citizens not to panic.

A Gauteng general practitioner gives a clinical account of daily dealings with patients, and Prof Salim Abdool Karim, director for the Centre for Aids Programme of Research in SA, called on citizens to remain calm.

Omicron in South Africa

General practitioners know how to manage new variant

In anticipation of the country being soon hit by the fourth wave, private general practitioner (GP) Dr Unben Pillay told a department of health virtual media briefing that in the past 10 days, GPs started seeing “a sharp increase in cases of patients presenting with flu-like symptoms: dry cough, fever, night sweat and general body pains”.

“Although this is early days – in keeping with all the other Covid waves that we have seen – general practitioners in private practice have become aware of how to manage patients, having already dealt with three waves.

“Generally, cases that we see in private practice are milder, but as hospitals start filling up, we start seeing a lot of the complications.

“We have also done a lot of upskilling in the past few days, so we are aware of what needs to be done in terms of management and treatment during the fourth wave.”

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No reason to panic

Calling on South Africans not to panic after the discovery of Omicron in Botswana and South Africa, Prof Karim, said local public health interventions were effective.

“Vaccines remain effective over time for all past variants – for severe Covid and hospitalisation.”

“While we may see more mild infections from Omicron due to antibody escape, there is likely to be less impact on severe disease, as it depends more on T-cells.

“Preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of immune escape from antibodies, likely to lead to increased reinfection cases. But we’ve dealt with variants before, including with immune escape.”

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