Gauteng province, Omicron's ground zero, saw fewer hospitalisations relative to cases

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-02-24 09:00

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Hospitalisations as a result of the Omicron wave in South Africa's Gauteng Province were 'decoupled' from the case numbers, according to international research. Gauteng Province is the place Omicron was first discovered, and researchers tested the blood of 7000 residents to estimate how many people had COVID-19 antibodies at the time Omicron was circulating. They say while just 18.8 per cent of participants had been vaccinated, the proportion of people with COVID-19 antibodies ranged from 56.2 per cent among children under 12 to 79.7 per cent among adults over 50. The researchers say the region's Omicron wave both increased and decreased faster than previous waves and led to fewer hospitalisations relative to case numbers.