{"id":1103337,"date":"2021-12-09T16:44:24","date_gmt":"2021-12-09T21:44:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1103337"},"modified":"2021-12-09T16:44:26","modified_gmt":"2021-12-09T21:44:26","slug":"has-omicron-outbreak-already-peaked-in-south-africas-ground-zero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/has-omicron-outbreak-already-peaked-in-south-africas-ground-zero\/","title":{"rendered":"Has Omicron Outbreak Already Peaked In South Africa\u2019s \u2018Ground Zero\u2019?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhas-omicron-outbreak-already-peaked-in-south-africas-ground-zero%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1103337&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Cases of COVID-19 appear to be tapering off after reaching a peak in South Africa, where the new variant dubbed Omicron was first discovered, according to a new report.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGauteng province has seen a meteoric rise infections since mid-November, when the first cases of the highly-evolved strain started appearing \u2014 jumping from 58 to 11,703 as of yesterday,\u201d The Daily Mail <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-10292185\/Covid-cases-reaching-peak-Omicron-epicentre-South-Africa-expert-claims.html\">reported<\/a>. But the U.K. paper said data suggests the spread may have already peaked, which a British expert hailed as \u201ctentative good news.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Professor Christina Pagel, a mathematician at University College London who has been following the outbreak, said infections had been rising by about 25% a day since November 15, but \u201cover the last four days have dipped below this trend, suggesting cases may be rounding off their previous exponential rise,\u201d the Mail said.<\/p>\n<p>The Mail also said an analysis of hospitalizations in South Africa suggests Omicron is causing less severe symptoms than previous variants and the original virus. \u201cThe variant has caused 60 percent fewer hospitalized patients going to intensive care in Gauteng compared to Delta,\u201d said the paper.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday said \u201cthe number of [hospital] admissions is very low\u201d in South Africa compared with the Delta wave, even though the number of infections has been higher than with the previous strain.<\/p>\n<p>When word of the new variant first emerged, panic ensued.<\/p>\n<p>The WHO said Omicron poses a \u201cvery high\u201d global risk and could bypass even those who have been vaccinated. The strain is a \u201chighly divergent variant with a high number of mutations\u2026 some of which are concerning and may be associated with immune escape potential and higher transmissibility,\u201d the U.N. agency said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe overall global risk related to the new variant \u2026 is assessed as very high,\u201d WHO said, adding that Omicron \u201chas an unprecedented number of spike mutations, some of which are concerning for their potential impact on the trajectory of the pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But a doctor in South Africa said shortly after Omicron emerged that\u2019s not what he was seeing. \u201cA South African doctor who was one of the first to suspect a different coronavirus strain has said that symptoms of the Omicron variant appear to be mild and could be treated at home,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/omicron-symptoms-what-are-they-and-how-do-they-compare-to-other-covid-infections-12482061\">according<\/a> to The Sun newspaper. \u201cDr. Angelique Coetzee, a private practitioner and chair of South African Medical Association, told Reuters that on 18 November she noticed seven patients at her clinic who had symptoms different from the dominant Delta variant, albeit \u2018very mild.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTheir symptoms were so different and so mild from those I had treated before,\u201d Coetzee told&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/global-health\/science-and-disease\/south-african-doctor-raised-alarm-omicron-variant-says-symptoms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Telegraph<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>And early data showed that Omicron may not be as bad as the original COVID-19, or the variant Delta.&nbsp;\u201cResearchers at a major hospital complex in Pretoria reported that their patients with the coronavirus are much less sick than those they have treated before, and that other hospitals are seeing the same trends,\u201d The New York Times <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/12\/06\/world\/africa\/omicron-coronavirus-research-spread.html\">reported<\/a>. \u201cIn fact, they said, most of their infected patients were admitted for other reasons and have no Covid symptoms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\">member<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cases of COVID-19 appear to be tapering off after reaching a peak in South Africa, where the new variant dubbed Omicron was first discovered, according to a new report.\u201cGauteng province has seen a meteoric rise infections since mid-November, when the first cases of the highly-evolved strain started appearing \u2014 jumping from 58 to 11,703 as of yesterday,\u201d The Daily Mail reported. But the U.K. paper said data suggests the spread may have already peaked, which a British expert hailed as \u201ctentative good news.\u201dProfessor Christina Pagel, a mathematician at University College London who has been following the outbreak, said infections had been rising by about 25% a day since November 15, but \u201cover the last four days have dipped below this trend, suggesting cases may be rounding off their previous exponential rise,\u201d the Mail said.The Mail also said an analysis of hospitalizations in South Africa suggests Omicron is causing less severe symptoms than previous variants and the original virus. \u201cThe variant has caused 60 percent fewer hospitalized patients going to intensive care in Gauteng compared to Delta,\u201d said the paper.Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday said \u201cthe number of [hospital] admissions is very low\u201d in South Africa compared with the Delta wave, even though the number of infections has been higher than with the previous strain.When word of the new variant first emerged, panic ensued.The WHO said Omicron poses a \u201cvery high\u201d global risk and could bypass even those who have been vaccinated. The strain is a \u201chighly divergent variant with a high number of mutations\u2026 some of which are concerning and may be associated with immune escape potential and higher transmissibility,\u201d the U.N. agency said.\u201cThe overall global risk related to the new variant \u2026 is assessed as very high,\u201d WHO said, adding that Omicron \u201chas an unprecedented number of spike mutations, some of which are concerning for their potential impact on the trajectory of the pandemic.\u201dBut a doctor in South Africa said shortly after Omicron emerged that\u2019s not what he was seeing. \u201cA South African doctor who was one of the first to suspect a different coronavirus strain has said that symptoms of the Omicron variant appear to be mild and could be treated at home,\u201d according to The Sun newspaper. \u201cDr. Angelique Coetzee, a private practitioner and chair of South African Medical Association, told Reuters that on 18 November she noticed seven patients at her clinic who had symptoms different from the dominant Delta variant, albeit \u2018very mild.&#8217;\u201d\u201cTheir symptoms were so different and so mild from those I had treated before,\u201d Coetzee told\u00a0The Telegraph.And early data showed that Omicron may not be as bad as the original COVID-19, or the variant Delta.\u00a0\u201cResearchers at a major hospital complex in Pretoria reported that their patients with the coronavirus are much less sick than those they have treated before, and that other hospitals are seeing the same trends,\u201d The New York Times reported. \u201cIn fact, they said, most of their infected patients were admitted for other reasons and have no Covid symptoms.\u201dThe Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":159,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1103337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1103337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/159"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1103337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1103337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1103337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1103337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1103337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}