which showed that people infected or 70 to 80 percent less likely to have to be admitted. professor cheryl cohen is a senior author of that south african study at the national institutes for communicable diseases and has more on her teams findings. when we look at this finding that we have overdue severity, they really are 2 possible explanations and i think it's likely both of them contribute to the one is that potentially the virus is actually intrinsically less than there are some early data to suggest that the parts of the body that a target in the life might be different and contribute to it actually being intrinsically less likely to cause severe disease. but the other important contribution is the role of pre existing immunity. so the in south africa, more than 70 percent of people have had soft coffee to before. and many people have also had vaccination. and so in the, the people included in our study and then we know army crime is more likely to cause a breakthrough infection. so many of the american patients will actually have had previous conviction of explanation. so. so part o

cohen is a senior author of that south african study at the national institute for communicable diseases and has more on her teams finding. when we look at this finding that we have offered you severity, there really are 2 possible explanation that i think it's likely both of them contribute to. the one is that potentially the virus is actually intrinsically less than there are some early data to suggest was ample. the, the parts of the body that a target in the lines might be different and contribute to it actually being intrinsically less likely to cause severe disease. but the other important contribution is the role of pre existing immunity. so in south africa, more than 70 percent of people have had source covey to before, and many people have also had vaccination. and so in the, the people included in our study and then we know me, crime is more likely to cause a breakthrough infection. so many of the american patients will actually have had previous conviction over explanation. so. so part of this reduce severity might actually just be that in many, many people, they've already ha

cohen is a senior author of that south african study at the institute of the national institute for communicable diseases and has more on her teams findings. when we look at this finding that we have offered you severity, there really are 2 possible explanation that i think it's likely both of them contribute to. the one is that potentially the virus is actually intrinsically less than there are some early data to dump all the parts of the body that a target in the line might be different and contribute to it actually being intrinsically less likely to cause severe disease. but the other important contribution is the role of pre existing immunity. so in south africa, more than 70 percent of people have had source covey to before. and many people have also had vaccination. and so in the, the people included in our study and then we know me, crime is more likely to cause a breakthrough infection. so many of the american patients will actually have had previous conviction over explanation. so. so part of the reduced severity might actually just be that in many, many people, they've alr

ok, let's bring in that. profess cheryl cohen, who is a senior author of that south african study at the national institute for communicable diseases. she joins us live from johannesburg. thanks for being on the news. our professor. so there's been a fair bit of doom and gloom ahead of this festive season, but this study that you've been involved in has provided a little bit of good news. tell us more so absolutely. i think certainty when you merged and cases are going up so rapidly and then there was evidence of the mean escape. also in south africa, we felt really gloomy about it. and then part of the, i'm in the, if it, they make, they were early signs that, that this variance really seem to be less severe. the cases were going to rapidly, and the hospitalizations weren't going up that fast. but we really had to be cautious because we know in the cases that could take time for the via to these 2 to occur. but what we did in our study really is that we took the cases from the very early phases of the epidemic. so really the 1st, the 1st couple of weeks when ami connie merged and we

cohen is a senior author of that self african study at the national institutes for communicable diseases and has more on her teams findings. when we look at this finding that we have offered you severity, they really are 2 possible explanations and i think it's likely both of them are contributing. the one is that potentially the virus is actually intrinsically less than there are some early data to suggest that the parts of the body that a target potential in the life might be different and contribute to it actually being intrinsically less likely to cause severe disease. but the other important contribution is the role of pre existing immunity. so the in south africa, more than 70 percent of people have had saw a coffee too before. and many people have also had vaccination. and so in the, the people included in our study and then we know on the crime is more likely to cause a breakthrough infection. so many of the patients will actually have had previous conviction over the nation. so. so part of the reduced severity might actually just be that in many, many people, they've already had

cohen is a senior author of that south african study at the national institute for communicable diseases and has more on her teams finding. when we look at this finding that we have overdue severity, there really are 2 possible explanations and i think it's likely both of them contribute to the one is that potentially the virus is actually intrinsically less than there are some early data to suggest that the parts of the body that a target in the life might be different and contribute to it actually being intrinsically less likely to cause severe disease. but the other important contribution is the role of pre existing immunity in south africa. more than 70 percent of people have had soft coffee too before and many people have also had vaccination. and so in the people included in our study and then we know army crime is more likely to cause a breakthrough infection. so many of the patients will actually have had previous infection of information so. so part of this reduce severity might actually just be that in many, many people, they've already had it before. they have some level of im

cheryl cohen is from south africa's national institute for communicable diseases in johannesburg. in terms of who was affected, as many new strains, and the initial cases it seems to be an older teenagers as opposed to particularly younger adults in university age students and this is more mobile parts of population and we are seeing the cases of omicron throughout all age groups in our society. but i think it's really important is that it is still very early days to comment on severity. so, certainly at this stage, the vast majority of cases, the important thing to notice is that they're going up faster than previous waves and we know that with more severe cases, special covid—19, hospitalisations to take some time to occur. and so, it will certainly take a few weeks before the full picture of severity and we are able to make a confident assessment on the severity. in another development, the w—h—o has announced its sending a team to gauteng. for more on how south africa is responding, here's nomsa maseko. with the rising number, there been an increase in the number of peop