On New Year’s Eve, South Africa removed its overnight curfew in light of the omicron wave of infections in the country reaching its peak, only six weeks after it began. Illnesses were mild and the number of hospitalisations were a fraction of those seen during the previous waves. In light of the panic being observed in India regarding the rapidly-spreading variant, what lessons does the South African experience hold?
Dr Angelique Coetzee, chairperson of the South African Medical Association talks to The Wire‘s Karan Thapar to share the country’s experiences.
Citing data of rapidly-dwindling numbers of cases and hospitalisations from December 20 to January 2, Dr Coetzee noted that this wave of infections reached a steep peak in a short time-frame, just six weeks after the first clinical diagnosis of omicron was made on November 18 and that she can’t see something different happening in other countries since the virus would remain the same.
She also noted that the number of hospitalisations, as well as the average stay in hospitals in the omicron wave, were drastically lower than those seen during the delta wave. Speaking to the severity of the symptoms, Dr Coetzee said that many patients at hospitals were incidentally discovered to have COVID-19 after coming into the hospital for some other reason. She even noted that the death rate in the omicron wave was considerably lower than what had been seen in earlier waves.
However, despite South Africa having left the worst of the omicron wave behind it, Dr Coetzee stressed that the country never discarded the wearing of masks and that doing so was still mandatory in the country. Similarly with large-scale public gatherings, social distancing and ventilation in public sector facilities, Dr Coetzee said that people must still use their common sense and avoid large crowds and maintain COVID-19 protocols.
When asked specifically about India’s massive political rallies where social distancing and mask-wearing are difficult to enforce, the South African health expert noted that this would be similar to playing with fire, warning they will become super-spreader events.
Hear what Dr Coetzee had to say on these issues in greater detail in her full interview with The Wire.
