Notes Waves begin when the positivity rate began rising for seven consecutive days.
Source: Our World in Data (as of Dec. 4) Credit: Rina Torchinsky/NPR
December 10, 20216:46 PM ET
Omicron spurs a rapid rise in positive coronavirus tests in South Africa
Compared
with three previous coronavirus variants, the newly identified omicron variant is sparking a faster surge in the percentage of positive tests in South Africa. Classified as a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization on Nov. 26, omicron has now been reported in more than 30 countries — and at least 19 states in the U.S.
The first country to really get hit by omicron is South Africa.
Before the new variant took off last month, coronavirus cases there were low – only several hundred per day in mid November.
But by early December, the tally of daily infections had shot up to more than 4,500 — and genomic sequencing shows that omicron is to blame.
What’s more, the variant quickly swept through all regions of South Africa – and has now shown up in about 60 additional countries.
Omicron hasn’t yet triggered a global wave, but many scientists who are tracking its rapid spread believe it’s only a matter of time.
The reason for their concern?
Omicron is starting to gain traction in countries where the pandemic looks very different from South Africa – places where the highly transmissible delta variant is currently dominant and where vaccination levels are relatively high.
Worrisome signs from Europe
The clearest signs of trouble come from how quickly omicron is growing in Europe and the U.K., says Matt Ferrari, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics and a professor of biology at Penn State University.
“Everybody in my industry is hopeful that we’re being alarmist, but more than at any other point in the course of the whole pandemic, we know how bad it could be,” he says.
Transition Studies 