South African scientists brace for COVID-19 wave propelled b

The new variant has a high number of mutations that appear to make it more transmissible and help it evade immune responses.

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South Africa , Gauteng , Johannesburg , Pretoria , Greece , South Africans , Greek , Willem Hanekom , Rudo Mathivha , Pfizer , Variant Research Consortium , Africa Health Research Institute , World Health Organization , Associated Press , Young , Johnson , Baragwanath Hospital , South African , Ap News , Biden Administration , Covid 19 , Krhd 25 News , Kxxv 25 News , South African Scientists Brace For Covid 19 Wave Propelled By New Variant , Texas News , Worried Scientists In South Africa Are Scrambling To Combat The Lightning Spread Across Country Of New And Highly Transmissible Omicron Covid 19 Variant As World Grapples With Its Emergence Space Two Weeks , He Omicron Variant Has Sent South Africa Froma Period Of Low Transmission To Rapid Growth New Confirmed Cases The Countrys Numbers Are Still Relatively , With 2 , 828 New Confirmed Cases Recorded Friday , Ut Omicrons Speed In Infecting Young South Africans Has Alarmed Health Professionals We Re Seeinga Marked Change The Demographic Profile Of Patients With Covid 19 , Ead Of The Intensive Care Unit At Sowetos Baragwanath Hospital , Old An Online Press Briefing Young People , N Their 20s To Just Over Late 30s , Re Coming In With Moderate To Severe Disease , Ome Needing Intensive Care About 65 Are Not Vaccinated And Most Of The Rest Only Half , Aid Mathivhaim Worried That As The Numbers Go Up , He Public Health Care Facilities Will Become Overwhelmed She Said Urgent Preparations Are Needed To Enable Hospitals Cope Witha Potential Large Influx Of Patients Needing Intensive We Know Havea New Variant , Aid Mathivha The Worst Case Scenario Is That It Hits Us Like Delta We Need To Have Critical Care Beds Ready What Looked Likea Cluster Infection Among Some University Students In Pretoria Ballooned Into Hundreds Of New Cases And Then Thousands , Irst In The Capital City And Then To Nearby Johannesburg , Outh Africas Largest City Studying The Surge , Cientists Identified The New Variant That Diagnostic Tests Indicate Is Likely Responsible For As Many 90 Of Cases , Ccording To South Africas Health Officials Early Studies Show That It Hasa Reproduction Rate Of 2 Meaning Every Person Infected By Is Likely Spread Two Other People The New Variant High Number Mutations Appear Make More Transmissible And Help Evade Immune Responses World Organization Looked At Data On Friday Named Omicron , Nder Its System Of Using Greek Letters , Alling Ita Highly Transmissible Variant Of Concern It Sa Huge We All Are Terribly Concerned About This Virus , Professor Willem Hanekom , Irector Of The Africa Health Research Institute , Old The Associated Press This Variant Is Mostly In Gauteng Province , He Johannesburg Area Of South Africa But We Ve Got Clues From Diagnostic Tests That Suggest This Variant Is Already All Over , Aid Hanekom , Ho Is Also Co Chair Of The South African Covid Variant Research Consortium Scientific Reaction From Within Africa That We Need To Learn As Much Soon Possible Know Precious Little , E Said For Example , E Do Not Know How Virulent This Virus Is , Hich Means How Bad Is This Disease That It Causesa Key Factor Vaccination The New Variant Appears To Be Spreading Most Quickly Among Those Who Are Unvaccinated Currently , Nly About 40 Of Adult South Africans Are Vaccinated , Nd The Number Is Much Lower Among Those In 20 To 40 Year Old Age Group South Africa Has Nearly Million Doses Of Vaccines Made By Pfizer And Johnson Amp But Numbers People Getting About 120 , 000 Per Day , Ar Below The Governments Target Of 300 , 000 Per Day As Scientists Try To Learn More About Omicron , He People Of South Africa Can Take Measures To Protect Themselves Against It , Aid Hanekom This Isa Unique Opportunity Theres Still Time For People Who Did Not Get Vaccinated To Go And The Vaccine , Nd That Will Provide Some Protection , We Believe , Gainst This Infection , Specially Protection Against Severe Infection , Evere Disease And Death , E Said Soi Would Call On People To Vaccinate If They Can ,