Scientists concerned about Omikron – Infection numbers rise – Especially many children affected

In a short time, the Omikron variant of the coronavirus has reached numerous countries around the globe. And in South Africa, too, the virus continues to spread. Where they are now seeing an unusually high number of hospitalizations among young children. So is the variant of the coronavirus now especially for children more dangerous than other variant that have formed before.

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Scientists still don’t know what exactly to expect from the new Omikron variant. While si appears to be more infectious than other variants but so far there is no evidence as to whether it also causes more severe courses than other variants. However, a large number of hospital admissions are now being reported in South Africa, mostly affecting young children. “There is an increase in the number of hospital admissions of children in the age group up to five years,” explains researcher Michelle Groome of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases NICD. This is also confirmed by the South African Department of Health. Around the capital Pretoria, about 100 children in the age group up to 5 years have been hospitalised with Covid-19 within the last two weeks. This is a worrying development. For the fact that the children actually have a low risk of severe courses, the numbers are very high, he said. During the entire pandemic so far, only 2,169 children had been hospitalized in Germany, of which only 100 had to be transferred to an intensive care unit.

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Compared to the figures from Germany, the numbers from South Africa seem unusually high. For this reason, concern is now rising among German pediatricians. “From South Africa is indeed reported a higher proportion of young children with positive Sars-CoV-2 test than in previous waves,” clarifies Burkhard Rodeck, Secretary General of the German Society for Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (DGKJ) to the media. However, it is not yet certain that the current situation is only due to Omikron. “No distinction is made between admissions due to Covid-19 disease or a positive test result in the context of an inpatient admission for other reasons,” the physician gives another reason to distrust the figures. The currently available data material is not yet sufficient and leaves a lot of room for interpretation. Now it has to be clarified whether one really has to reckon with more infections among the children. “If Omikron is more infectious than the previously known variants, there will also be increasing infections in young children in the general population if necessary, but also without disease,” Rodeck suspects.

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One thing that could be aiding the massive spread of Omicron in South Africa is the low vaccination rates in the African country. Health officials there confirm that many of the children’s parents have not been vaccinated against Covid-19.

In South Africa, vaccination rates are exceptionally low, at just 24.9 percent of the total population. This favors rapid spread of the new variant. But apparently, according to initial observations, people who had previously been infected with Covid-19 can also become infected with Omikron. Nevertheless, it is still too early to draw definitive conclusions. It had also been feared that the delta variant would lead to a higher number of infected infants. In the end, however, these fears were not confirmed. Now, more data needs to be evaluated to see how the Omicron variant will fare in the future.