Omicron May Have Peaked Or ‘Plateaued' in Parts of the World, Giving Experts Cause for Optimism

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There are early, tentative signs that the omicron wave has peaked, or is plateauing, in the places that were among the first to be hit hard by the variant.

Hospitalizations and deaths tend to lag new infections by several weeks, but the U.K.'s widespread Covid vaccination program has helped to keep admissions to hospital and deaths far lower than in the initial stages of the pandemic. Whether South Africa's omicron experience can be compared with the U.K. remains to be seen, given the difference in demographics, vaccine coverage and immunity levels among the populations.

"The issue now is spread to older age groups which is likely to have been fuelled by mixing over the holiday season and will lead to more severe outcomes and hospitalisations," he noted, as well as"more infection in younger school-age children [that] will further increase case numbers." Danny Altmann, professor of immunology at Imperial College London, told CNBC on Tuesday that South Africa's omicron data and experience are a cause for optimism, as is the fact that Europe's"massive caseload" of omicron infections"isn't proportionally translating into enhanced intensive care unit admissions and deaths, notwithstanding the caveat that it takes time to die.

 

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