Covid cases rise again in South Africa just months after becoming an Omicron hotspot –

Experts urged people not to panic as South Africa once again becomes the focus of the pandemic amid a new wave of Covid sub-variants.

Last November, the world watched in horror as the super-infectious strain of Omicron (BA.1) spread to South Africa at an unprecedented speed.

But now the country is on the verge of another outbreak of infections, this time even more infectious and from strains that appear resistant to antibodies.

Nationwide Covid cases have nearly quadrupled in a month, and hospitalizations are on the rise in Gauteng province, the former epicenter of the original Omicron wave.

Researchers in the field in South Africa say the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants can evade immunity and cause symptoms in people who were infected with the parent strain only a few months ago.

What is still unclear is whether the new wave will cause milder or more serious illness, but experts tell MailOnline the former is more likely, at least for the UK.

Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious disease specialist at the University of East Anglia, said Britain’s second wave of Omicrons, caused by the BA.2 subvariant, would give the British an extra layer of immunity against critical illness data.

He noted a preliminary print showing that the combination of vaccination and Omicron infection creates “robust protection” against Omicron.

However, how the last wave will develop is less clear in South Africa, where only three in ten South Africans receive two injections and only one percent receive a booster dose.

History repeats itself: Gauteng province, the former epicenter of the original Omicron wave, is seeing the biggest spike in cases again

Nationwide, just over a month ago, there were about 1,400 hospitalizations a day for the virus each week, but it takes a few weeks for people to get sick enough to be hospitalized.

Applications double in a month in Gauteng province, home to Johannesburg

While there has been a stagnation in the number of infections since the original Omicron wave crashed in South Africa in January, cases rose again in the UK in the spring.

South Africa has an average of about 4,800 new Covid infections per day, up from around 1,300 this time around last month.

Nationwide, there are about 1,400 weekly hospitalizations due to the virus, unchanged from a month ago, but it takes a few weeks for a trend to emerge.

In the Johannesburg-based province of Gauteng, the number of entries doubled in one month.

However, it is estimated that more than 90 percent of South Africans have natural immunity to Covid, which could limit the pressure on hospitals.

Professor Hunter told MailOnline that he expects BA.4 and BA.5 to predominate in the UK unless an entirely new variant emerges.

“If nothing else comes out, I suspect one or both variants will dominate in the UK, but I cannot predict how large the increase in infections will be,” he said.

“We’ll also still have solid protection against serious illness for most of us.”

Vaccines offer good additional protection after BA.1 infection, so it’s hard to predict exactly what will happen given the UK has much higher vaccine coverage than South Africa and also has high previous infection rates. mean’

Professor Christina Pagel, from University College London and part of a former Zero Covid campaign group, said the best-case scenario would be a small wave of BA.4 / BA.5 in the UK.

At worst, it could mean a raging wave like the Omicron or BA.2 wave that never beat the NHS, according to Professor Pagel, who is not normally known for his optimistic Covid forecasts.

He told The Guardian that the UK is approaching summer, which means more mixing abroad and fewer transfers.

But given what happened last November when the country announced its Omicron variant to the world, there is of course some intrigue about South Africa’s recent rise.

Last November, the tension recorded fewer than 300 cases per day before it hit an astronomical spike, peaking at 27,000 daily cases in a month.

The situation in South Africa sparked international panic as countries around the world closed their borders to travelers from parts of Africa in early December.

However, Omicron spread rapidly around the world, causing an unprecedented increase in the number of cases.

Fearing that the wave could lead to a wave of hospitalizations, many leaders in Europe chose to return to the bloc, including the Netherlands, Austria and France.

In the UK, Brits have been asked to cancel their Christmas celebrations and only meet people if necessary. However, doctors in South Africa insisted that the Omicron was lighter than previous waves.

Experts told MailOnline at the time that there was an element of “snobbery” among British experts who ignored the South African doctors’ pleas.

Dr. Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at the University of Reading, told MailOnline that people need to break the habit of being stuck with the virus’ tides in other countries.

Over the next few months and years, we will see the number of infections increasing and decreasing worldwide. “This is natural and there is nothing to be afraid of or shocked about,” he said.

“The most important thing is to maintain sufficient immunity in the population so that we can control the worst effects of Covid-19 and some reduction in its spread.

“Having good immunity from previous vaccines and infections means that hospitalizations are reduced and they are on the less severe end of the spectrum, often with less intensive care unit admissions when they occur.”

Since the most contagious but milder strains of Omicron started in the UK in December, Covid cases have soared to record highs, with 4.1 million infections being recorded last month, the latest peak recorded.

But unlike in the early stages of the pandemic, spikes in severe disease were never tracked. The UK death toll never exceeded 250 per day in April, compared to levels seen during bad flu seasons.

Hospital admissions peaked at just over 2,000 – half of the January 2021 peak – and more than half were hospitalized for possibly another illness and sometimes tested positive.