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South Africa's health body sees threefold higher risk of reinfection from Omicron

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  • Published Dec 3, 2021 11:03 am KST
  • Updated Dec 3, 2021 11:03 am KST

Passengers, some wearing masks, line up to board a taxi at the Baragwanath taxi rank in Soweto, South Africa, Dec. 2. AP-Yonhap

The new Omicron variant of the coronavirus poses a threefold higher risk of reinfection than the currently dominant Delta variant and the Beta strain, a group of South African health bodies said on Thursday.

The South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis along with National Institute of Communicable Diseases said latest findings "provide epidemiological evidence for Omicron's ability to evade immunity from prior infection".

Their statement was issued after a group of South African health organizations published a paper on medrxiv.org as a pre-print, meaning the work was not yet certified by peer review. (Reuters)