Scientists from South Africa called “omicron” a harbinger of the end of the pandemic – RBK

Scientists link omicron strain to end of acute phase of COVID-19 pandemic

The researchers do not exclude that the omicron-variant foreshadows the closeness of the end of the epidemic phase of COVID-19 and its transition to the endemic one, characteristic of a certain area.

Scientists from the Republic of South Africa, where the new omicron variant of the coronavirus was first identified, suggested that this strain could end the COVID-19 pandemic. Research results published on the South African Medical Research Council website. Excerpts leads Bloomberg…

The researchers studied the data of 466 patients of the hospital in the city district of Tswane, who were admitted to the omicron wave, and 3976 – the previous ones. They found that only 4.5% of COVID-19 cases died in hospital in the current wave, compared with an average of 21% in previous times. The average length of hospital stay has decreased to four days from 8.8 days earlier, and the number of admitted to the intensive care unit has decreased from 4.3 to 1%.

With each wave, a milder course of the disease was observed, the scientists note. This indicates that the omicron strain can serve as a “foreshadowing” of the end of the epidemic phase of the coronavirus pandemic and its transition to the endemic phase, characteristic of a certain area.

A new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus – B.1.1.529 – was detected in South African countries in November. It has been declared of concern by the World Health Organization and named omicron. According to the WHO, this strain has already been found in more than 100 countries.