the times | Monday December 6 2021 9
News
The Omicron variant spreads faster
and can reinfect people who have
previously had the virus — but vaccines
appear to protect against it, South
African scientists said yesterday.
The glimmer of hope came as a
government adviser warned that the
variant was already “spreading rapidly”
in the UK and could “replace Delta
around the world”. There were an addi-
tional 86 confirmed Omicron cases
reported across the UK yesterday,
bringing the total to 246, according to
the UK Health Security Agency.
Willem Hanekom, director of the
Africa Health Research Institute in
South Africa, told the BBC’s Andrew
Marr Show that the Omicron variant
was “spreading extraordinarily fast” in
his country. He said: “The increase in
cases is much steeper than it’s been in
the past three waves, so it seems that
Omicron is able to spread very easily,
and virtually all the cases that we see in
South Africa right now are Omicron.”
He said new data showed “about a
1 per cent chance of getting reinfected”,
early data suggested cases may occur
more in younger people, principally
those who were unvaccinated, and
“that overall so far the disease has
appeared to be milder”. However, he
warned: “We have to be cautious
because these are very early days.”
Hanekom said hospital doctors
reported a large proportion of admis-
sions were unvaccinated, adding: “So
it’s the same story as what we have
known before from vaccines, it seems.
And the story is that vaccines protect
against severe disease and death.”
Mark Woolhouse, a member of the
Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group
on Modelling, said that “early signs are
that it’s spreading pretty rapidly in the
UK, too”. He added: “If those trends
continue then over the course of the
coming weeks and months OmicronGlobal cases
265,423,Global deaths
5,248,Countries reporting most deaths
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UK
Indonesia1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8Most new cases
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8World update
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615,
470,
294,
274,
201,
145,
143,61,51,43,43,32,
25,
22,
20,US
France
UK
Germany
Russia
Poland
Netherlands
TurkeyDeaths per million population
Rank Now Jan 31Data supplied by Johns Hopkins University. US data fluctuates because of irregular reporting by different states.
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1,
1,
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1,Peru
Bulgaria
Bosnia & H.
N. Macedonia
Hungary
Czech Rep
Georgia
Romania
Brazil
Argentina
US
Italy
UK
SpainRussia
FrancePortugalGermany1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 913
17
24
26
2931
323348the previous 48 hours. The original
green pass has been required to
enter a place of work since mid-
October.
The tightening of restrictions
comes as the Omicron variant
makes its debut in the country, with
nine cases so far. Officials hope the
new rules will change the minds of
Italians who oppose vaccinations,
symbolised by Guido Russo, a
dentist, who made headlines last
week when he tried to proffer a
prosthetic arm at a vaccination
centre.
A new poll has shown that 6 per
cent of Italians believe Covid-
does not exist, the same number
who think the world is flat.denmark
Mette Frederiksen, the Danish
prime minister, has apologised for
being caught shopping without
wearing a mask four days after her
government reintroduced
mandatory face coverings in shops
and on public transport.
“It was simply an accident after
the new rules had just come into
force,” she said on social media after
being filmed without a mask in a
Copenhagen clothes shop on Friday.
“It can happen to anyone, but ideallyit shouldn’t happen to me. So I
obviously regret it.”belgium
Two hippopotamuses have tested
positive for Covid at Antwerp zoo
in the first case in the species.
The animals, Imani, 14, and
Hermien, 41, were seen to have
runny noses and are now in
quarantine.
Covid is thought to have
originally jumped from an animal
to humans and during the
pandemic has passed back from
people to animals. Some experts
believe the Omicron variant
may be a case of a “reverse
zoonotic event” where Covid has
passed back to animals after
circulating in people.morocco
The government has banned all
artistic and cultural events as part
of its response to concern over the
Omicron variant.
In a statement on Friday the
government also urged citizens
and residents to get vaccinated.
Morocco has already closed its air
and sea borders for two weeks,
which has caused concern in the
country’s tourism sector.italy
Italy will ban unvaccinated people
from restaurants, cinemas,
nightclubs, concerts and
football matches from today as
new daily cases of Covid edge
above 16,000.
Access will be restricted until
January 15 to only those showing
the Super Green Pass issued to
people who are vaccinated or have
had Covid.
From December 15 vaccinations
will also be obligatory for police
officers, soldiers and teachers,
while mayors will enforce outdoor
mask-wearing in crowded
shopping areas.
The pass marks a step up from
Italy’s existing green pass, which is
available to the vaccinated and
former Covid cases, but also to
people who have tested negative inPolice, troops
and teachers
must get jab
News
Vaccines work
against variant,
says scientist
could even come to replace Delta
entirely right around the world.”
New government rules requiring
travellers arriving in the UK to have
taken pre-departure tests, he said, were
likely to be “a case of shutting the stable
door after the horse has bolted”, with
community transmission in the UK set
to drive the next wave.
A report released on Saturday from
the Steve Biko/Tshwane District Hos-
pital Complex in Pretoria, in the heart
of the Tshwane district, at the epicentre
of the Omicron wave, showed a sharp
rise in admissions to Covid wards. But
the majority were admitted for condi-
tions unrelated to Covid-19, with posi-
tive test results an incidental finding.
A snapshot of 42 patients on corona-
virus wards on December 2 showed 70
per cent were not dependent on oxygen
supplementation to breathe.
Dr Fareed Abdullah, who wrote the
report, said this differed from earlier
waves. “In the beginning of all three
previous waves and throughout the
course of these waves there has always
only been a sprinkling of patients on
room air in the Covid ward.”
Patients also appear younger than in
previous waves, in what the hospital
said may be “a vaccination effect as 57
per cent of people over the age of 50
have been vaccinated in the province
compared to 34 per cent in the 18 to 49
year group”. They had an average stay
of 2.8 days, compared with 8.5 days for
those admitted over the past 18 months.
Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser
for UK Health Security Agency said:
“We will need more time and more
data. But nonetheless [it is] better than
if they were all hospitalised with severe
Covid and required oxygen.”
Paul Hunter, professor in medicine at
the University of East Anglia said it was
not possible to predict the pressure on
the NHS for another couple of weeks.
Don’t make martyrs of antivaxers,
Clare Foges, page 25KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES; DURSUN AYDEMIR/ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES; JOHANNA GERON/REUTERSKat Lay Health Editorthrown, leading police to respond with water cannon and teargas. The country has one of Europe’s highest infection rates