Omicron variant: Infecting more women than men

The Omicron variant is infecting women more than men, said health officials yesterday.

The transmission trend from around the world, including South Africa, indicates this, said Robed Amin, spokesperson of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

While none of the Covid-19 vaccines is 100 percent effective against Omicron, he still urged those with two jabs to get a booster dose.

The level of [Covid-19] antibody increases after taking booster dose, which is believed to be effective against Omicron, said Amin, also the director of Disease Control at the DGHS.

First reported in South Africa on November 18, the fifth variant of concern drove Covid-19 cases to record highs, with the daily global case count surpassing a million for the first time at the end of December since the outbreak began.

The South African government, meanwhile, said on Thursday said that data from its health department suggested that the country had passed its Omicron peak without a major spike in deaths, offering cautious hope to other countries grappling with the variant.

The DGHS data, meanwhile, showed that the transmission of Covid-19 has increased 60 percent in the seven days to Saturday compared with the preceding seven-day period.

The number of new cases and positivity rate also increased in the past 24 hours to 8 am yesterday as the DGHS reported 557 cases, up from 370 the previous day.

Against 19,130 tests, the positivity rate was 2.9 percent, up from 2.4 percent the previous day.

The number of deaths due to Covid-19, on the other hand, has decreased with the DGHS reporting one death. On the previous day, it was four.