Omicron variant is 3 times more likely to cause reinfection than Delta strain among people having immunity against the Coronavirus from a previous infection, preliminary findings of a study conducted to determine the properties of Omicron strain have confirmed.
Conducted by the South African DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis (CEEMA), the study published on a medical preprint server Thursday is the first of its nature that provides epidemiological insight into Omicron’s ability to evade immunity from prior infection.
According to the study that has not been peer-reviewed yet, 35,670 cases of reinfections had been reported among more than 2.8 million South African citizens whose medical records were evaluated until 27 November. A case was categorized as reinfection only if an individual tested positive 90 or more days after recovering from a prior COVID-19 infection.
Speaking in this regard, Director CEEMA, Juliet Pulliam, said that most of the people who have been reinfected recently are those who were primarily infected across the first three waves of the Coronavirus in the country, with a significant number of them having their primary infection during the wave of Delta variant.
She warned that the study does not offer epidemiological data as to what extent the Omicron variant could evade the immunity provided by existing COVID-19 vaccines because the study’s researchers did not take into account the vaccination status of 2.8 million citizens, adding that the answer to this question will be determined in the next phase of the study that is already underway.
Besides, CEEMA researchers are also planning to expand the study to determine the severity of infection, hospitalization rate, and mortality rate caused by the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus.
