Coronavirus South African researchers: Omicron transformation could infect those already suffering from coronary heart disease more easily than before – 11,500 new cases in the country on Thursday

South Africa National Institute for Infectious Diseases (NICD) has found a link between coronavirus re-infections and omicron transformation, according to an economic newspaper Financial Times.

The omicron transformation was first observed in November in South Africa and Botswana. The NICD released preliminary results on Wednesday research, which analyzed the spread of the variant compared to the first wave of the virus and the beta and delta variants.

Omicron conversion has spread in South Africa much faster than other variants and has become the prevailing variant in the country.

On Thursday, 11,500 new cases of corona were detected in the country, up from just a few hundred cases a day a few weeks ago. The majority of cases, more than 8,000, were reported in the province of Gauteng, where South Africa is the largest city in South Africa, according to NCID.

In Gauteng, the viral load rate, ie the average number of new infections per infected person, is scientific journal Nature according to rose to more than two. The number is higher than ever since the early days of the pandemic.

The proportion of positive test results has risen to more than 20 percent.

Faster the spread in South Africa can be partly explained by the link between omicron variant and corona re-infections, which has not been observed in the case of infection waves caused by beta or delta transformations. Millions of South Africans have contracted coronary heart disease.

According to research, omicron transformation can be up to 2.4 times more susceptible to infection in people who already have coronavirus disease. Prior to the new modification, the protection afforded by the previous coronary heart disease against a new infection was estimated to be at least 80%.

South African epidemiologist Juliet Pulliam wrote messaging service on Twitterthat most re-infections have been reported in people with coronary heart disease during the delta wave.

Helsinki postdoctoral researcher in disease economics Tuomas Aivelo says that the omicron transformation may be effectively circumvented precisely because of the structure of the immune defense virus introduced by the delta variant.

“Omikron is relatively different from the delta,” says Aivelo.

In South Africa, as many as 0.4 percent of the population has died of corona, so the disease has circulated widely in society.

“If omicron spreads better there delta, it gives a hint that the spread is related to circumventing immune protection,” Aivelo estimates.

What is important for Finland at this stage is how much – at least to some extent, Aivelo estimates – omikron also circumvents the protection provided by vaccines. According to him, the omicron variant is also likely to spread faster in Finland than the delta variant if it is able to circumvent the protection provided by vaccines even to some extent, as vaccine coverage is considerable in Finland.

“It may be that omicron has adapted to circulate just the delta, meaning the vaccine could give [sairastettua tautia] better protection. “

According to Aivelo, omicron is likely to bypass the immune protection provided by the previous infection and the vaccine for a less serious disease than the infection.

Hospital care the need has also increased in South Africa as the omicron variant has become more common.

Formerly a South African doctor and chairman of the country’s Medical Association Angelique Coetzee however, he said that the omicron patients he treated have survived the disease with moderate symptoms.

Read more: South African doctor: Coronary patients receiving omicron transformation have so far survived home care

Chief Scientist of the World Health Organization (WHO) Soumya Swaminathan On Friday, the news agency Reuters estimated that the mildness of the cases could suggest that the vaccines will also be effective against omicron transformation. However, no research data are yet available on circumventing the protection afforded by vaccines, but the WHO has stated that it was investigating efficacy of vaccines against modification.