Questions about the evolution of the Covid-19 epidemic are increasing with the arrival of the new variant called Omicron. Scientists have looked into the risk of being infected again with SARS-CoV-2 with this variant, discovered last month in South Africa.
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The risk of catching Covid-19 again is increased with the Omicron variant, according to a study by South African scientists, providing a first indication that this variant is more capable of bypassing theacquired immunity by infection than the previous variants.
This work is based on the analysis of 35,670 re-infections identified in nearly 2.8 million individuals who have tested positive in South Africa. Between the 1er and on November 27, the risk of reinfection observed was three times higher compared to waves related to Beta and Delta variants.
Should we fear the Omicron variant?
” The variant Omicron is associated with a substantial ability to evade immunity from prior infection ”, Concludes the study, made available Thursday on the medRxiv pre-publication site, but that has not yet been peer-reviewed. ” We do not have information on the vaccination status of individuals in our data, and therefore we cannot draw any conclusions about Omicron’s ability to evade vaccine-induced immunity. “, However warned on Twitter Juliet Pulliam, of theSouth African University Stellenbosch, and lead author of the study. Last week, South Africa announced that it had detected this new variant, creating a phenomenon of global panic.
Since this one has many mutations, scientists have since sought to understand whether it is more contagious or able to resist immunity acquired from vaccines or previous infection. Laboratory results are still awaited, and this study therefore provides valuable first information. “ We believe that a previous infection does not protect against Omicron Earlier said Anne von Gottberg, an infectious disease specialist at the South African National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD).
Vaccines should, however, remain effective against severe forms of the disease.
According to the first observations, people already infected could be re-contaminated by Omicron, often with less serious symptoms, specified the scientist. VaccinesThey should, however, remain effective against severe forms of the disease, she said.
The variant, present to date in at least 22 countries according toWHO, has been detected in four African countries: Ghana, Nigeria, Botswana and South Africa. The number of official cases of Covid-19 has increased by 54% on the continent over the last seven days compared to previous days, due to the exponential rise in contaminations in South Africa, which are expected to exceed 10,000 cases in the next few 24 hours, according to WHO Africa. Two weeks ago, South Africa was reporting some 300 cases per day. The country reported 8,561 new cases on Wednesday, up from 4,373 the day before.
At this stage, ” we don’t know where the variant comes from ”, Underlined WHO expert Ambrose Talisuna. After announcing the detection of the new variant, named after Omicron, South Africa and its neighbors have been penalized by sudden travel bans in many countries. The WHO has reiterated its call to lift these “unfair” restrictions which have no scientific justification.
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