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Previous infection did not provide protection from Omicron: South Africa


Previous infection offers no protection from 'Omicron': South Africa

The new variant, first reported to WHO a week earlier, has popped up across continents.

Johannesburg, South Africa:

People infected with earlier variants of Covid do not appear to be protected against Omicron, although vaccination will still prevent serious illness, a leading South African scientist says. South Africa’s top said on Thursday.

“We believe previous infection does not offer protection from Omicron,” said Anne von Gottberg, an expert at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases.

Outlining her initial research on the newly emerged variant, she said doctors are noticing “an increase in Omicron reinfection cases.”

This trend is also seen in the models that forecast those cases relative to the general population, she told a news conference with the World Health Organization’s Africa region.

“We believe the number of cases will increase exponentially in all provinces in the country,” she said.

She added: “We believe vaccines will still protect against severe diseases.

“Vaccines are always protective against serious illness, hospitalization and death.”

The new variant, first reported to WHO a week earlier, has popped up across continents.

WHO experts reiterated calls for a rethink of travel bans for southern Africa, as Omicron has now been reported in nearly two dozen countries and its source remains unclear.

“South Africa and Botswana discovered this variant. We don’t know where it originated,” said expert Ambrose Talisuna. “To punish people who just find out or report … is not fair.”

By mid-November, South Africa was reporting around 300 cases a day. On Wednesday, the country reported 8,561 new cases, up from 4,373 the day before and 2,273 on Monday.

(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)

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