A top South African doctor tells Israeli television that the Omicron variant appears much less deadly than the Delta strain of coronavirus.
“People are not dying as you have seen with Delta,” Dr. Angelique Coetzee says in an interview with the Kan public broadcaster. “Delta — it’s totally different.”
Coetzee, who heads the South African Medical Association, says cases have begun declining since December 9.
“We don’t see that doubling or increase that we had seen right in the beginning,” she says. “Maybe it will be a different picture in the rest of the world, but for now the caseloads in the hospitals are very low.”
She also says there has not been a significant increase in serious COVID-19 cases that is putting a strain on hospitals.
Coetzee stresses that the unvaccinated have been experiencing more “intense” symptoms than vaccinated people who contracted Omicron.
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