At Steve Biko Academic Hospital in the City of Tshwane, doctors compared 466 infected patients admitted since mid-November 2021 to 3,976 patients admitted before then. The mortality rate during the Omicron surge was 4.5 percent, compared to 21.3 percent in the earlier period, they reported in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases. ADVERTISEMENTOmicron patients were discharged after an average of four days, compared to 8.8 days for patients with earlier variants. Unprecedented speedAt the peak of the Omicron surge, the number of beds filled with infected patients was half of that in the earlier period, and 63 percent of Omicron patients were hospitalized for other reasons, with the virus only detected by mandatory tests. But if the pattern seen in South Africa “continues and is repeated globally … Omicron may be a harbinger of the end of the epidemic phase” of the health crisis, they added.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer January 09, 2022 17:06 UTC