is how easy it is for one person to give to another. how well to antibodies of various variants work or not work against it. that means antibodies that we got from being vaccinated, but also the antibodies we got from having been vaccinated with covid and having survived it. it is worth noting that when the w.h.o. put out their first international statement about the new omicron variant being detected, they noted explicitly in that for statement that they thought they were seeing a high degree of reinfection with the omicron variant. that means people who had covid before, and recovered from it, we re nevertheless getting covid again, getting this new strain of covid as if it was a whole new thing. as if the antibodies they developed against the earlier strain of the virus did not help them with this one. again, that was just an initial observation from w.h.o., we don t really know yet, we also don t know at all if this variant makes people more or less sick, more or less likely
a fourth wave of covid infections is spreading fast, driven by the new variant. are you worried about this new variant, omicron? the new one, i am worried. i m worried. we don t know what the new variant s like. what the symptoms are, how bad the symptoms are. how it could affect us now and it makes you really scared. at their laboratory here in durban the scientists who first identified the omicron variant are racing to unlock its secrets, and now the first hints are emerging of what the mutations on the virus mean. i think the epidemiological evidence is that we think you re more likely to get reinfected if you ve had covid before, so that is because of the mutations on the spike protein. we don t know much about transmissibility but i think looking at the mutational formation we think it may be more transmissible than even delta. in terms of clinical problems, we have no evidence that this
i think the epidemiological evidence is that we think you re more likely to get reinfected if you ve had covid before, so that is because of the mutations on the spike protein. we don t know much about transmissibility but i think looking at the mutational formation we think it may be more transmissible than even delta. in terms of clinical problems, we have no evidence that this is a more severe virus than let s say delta, alpha, or even beta. that bears repeating. although hospital admissions are rising sharply here, it won t be at all clear at least for another week or two whether the omicron variant is more severe, more dangerous. in the meantime, above all in rural south africa, another problem lurks vaccine hesitancy. this builder tells a visiting health worker that he won t get
it s summer time here in south africa, but a shadow looms over the beaches and holiday season. a fourth wave of covid infections is spreading fast, driven by the new variant. are you worried about this new variant, omicron? the new one, i am worried. i m worried. we don t know what the new variant s like. what the symptoms are, i how bad the symptoms are. how it could affect us now and it makes you really scared. at their laboratory here in durban the scientists who first identified the omicron variant are racing to unlock its secrets, and now the first hints are emerging of what the mutations on the virus mean. i think the epidemiological evidence is that we think you re more likely to get reinfected if you ve had covid before, so that is because of the mutations on the spike protein.
it s summer time here in south africa, but a shadow looms over the beaches and holiday season. a fourth wave of covid infections is spreading fast, driven by the new variant. are you worried about this new variant, omicron? the new one, i am worried. i m worried. we don t know what the new variant s like. what the symptoms are, i how bad the symptoms are. how it could affect us now and it makes you really scared. at their laboratory here in durban the scientists who first identified the omicron variant are racing to unlock its secrets, and now the first hints are emerging of what the mutations on the virus mean. i think the epidemiological evidence l is that we think you re more likelyl i to get reinfected if you ve had . covid before, so that is because of the mutations on the spike protein. we don t know much about - transmissibility but i think looking at the mutational formation we think it may be more transmissible - than even delta.