BREAKING—Uk 🇬🇧 now reports its first 2 cases of #OmicronVariant, with Africa travel connection. UK now adds Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Angola to its travel red list.—“If you have returned from there in the last 10 days you must isolate & get PCR tests”. cnn.com/world/live-new…
2) A country being on the “red list” means that UK residents, as well as British and Irish nationals arriving home from that red list point of departure, must undergo a 10-day hotel quarantine at their own expense. 👀
3) there is likely a big cluster of #Omicron cases among travelers on KLM flights from Cape Town and Johannesburg that landed in Amsterdam yesterday.
4) Earlier, two cases were identified in Hong Kong 🇭🇰 via aggressive testing in hotel quarantine. That’s sadly what is needed to find all the cases. That’s why UK is adding 10 days of hotel quarantine.
5) Travel restrictions likely coming too late and only partly effective - the Belgian case actually had zero travel to Southern Africa. This is a big worry - #Omicron could be global 🌎 already.
6) Belgium 🇧🇪 is also retroactively tracking 47 potential cases of #Omicron—because the Belgian case returned in early November, but we don’t know about spread since then, scientists are now retroactively combing past PCR positives for S-Gene dropout signals (a proxy for #B11529)
7) Well… this escalated quickly today. UK 🇬🇧 scientists clearly advising Boris Johnson that #Omicron is evasive against 2x vaccine shots. I kinda believe it but I want to see the data how much. 👇
Folks—as much as life is unpredictable, we should try to have empathy for others & show kindness to strangers—and to help each other whenever we can when others in need. I was given a second chance in life, so I believe in karma & paying it forward. 🙏
Many folks don’t understand why I tweet. Some think I’m a fearmonger, or think I’m some opportunist, or think I’m a CCP spy. They are wrong. ➡️instead, this is who I am—I was given a second shot at life—saving lives & public health is my life mission: well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/a-w…
3) I did this in Jan 2020 at great personal cost and professional peril… but I did it anyway. Maybe history one day will be more kind. nymag.com/intelligencer/…
⚠️TRIPLING HOSPITALIZATIONS IN 2 WEEKS—In #Omicron epicenter of Gauteng Province, South Africa🇿🇦, there is more than **tripling of #COVID19 hospitalizations** in 2 weeks—➡️ from 135 hospital admissions to 418. This is data directly from 🇿🇦’s CDC @nicd_sa🧵 nicd.ac.za/diseases-a-z-i…
2) here is the exact #COVID19 hospitalizations breakdown for Gauteng Province by both public and private hospitals. It’s increasing equally - tripling in both classes of hospitals. This is not just a surveillance issue. Trust the @nicd_sa data first. nicd.ac.za/diseases-a-z-i…
3) breakdown many #COVID19 patients currently hospitalized / in ICU / on ventilator in Gauteng 🇿🇦—747 hospitalized, 57 in ICU, and 23 on a ventilator. @nicd_sa doesn’t give the time series for all of these. It’s still early. Less hope it doesn’t rise further.
📍”MARKED CHANGE”—In South Africa 🇿🇦: “Young people, in their 20s to late 30s, are coming in with moderate to severe disease, some needing intensive care. About 65% are not vaccinated—most of the rest are only half-vaccinated”. ➡️#GetVaccinatedNow#Omicronpbs.org/newshour/healt…
2) Yes I’m aware of conflicting reports. But I’m citing PBS / AP - reputable sources. The disinfo on other side saying it’s “mild” is from manipulating quotes.
3) Here is the full context of those who claimed it was “mild”. Different doctors see diff patients. I know for a fact that hospitalizations are rising in the Gauteng epicenter province. I’ll share a graph later.
BREAKING—13 #Omicron variant cases now confirmed from 61 #COVID19 cases among ~600 passengers on two flights from South Africa to Amsterdam 🇳🇱(that took off and was mid-air when EU travel limits added). Dutch government warns there will likely be more. bbc.co.uk/news/world-eur…
2) Overnight, Germany also added a confirmed case (suspected yesterday) along with Italy 🇮🇹, and previously Australia just recently. Austria and Denmark now have probables. bnonews.com/index.php/2021…
3) the two Australia 🇦🇺 cases also just came off of Qatar Airways flights from South Africa 🇿🇦 via Doha. The earlier Hong Kong 🇭🇰 cases also were on @qatarairways via Doha. ➡️ I think @DohaAirport needs to do more screenings as well.
NEW—Australia 🇦🇺 confirms its first 2 cases of #Omicron variant in New South Wales (Sydney region) among flight ✈️ passengers returning from South Africa 🇿🇦, aboard a Qatar Airways flight via Doha. All 260 aboard now isolating. 14 days hotel quarantine for those from S Africa. 🧵
2) This adds to the flurry of new / probable #Omicron cases identified in the past 2 days. It’s definitely global now
3) I warned that it was already global outside of SubSaharan Africa when we immediately noticed the Belgium 🇧🇪 case has zero travel to Southern Africa. And it was weeks ago. Millions fly out every week in Africa. It was inevitable if we respond so late.
Lots of misinformation now being floated that #Omicron is “mild”. That’s nonsense — based on out-of-context quote. Don’t fall for it — nobody know that much yet. And hospitalizations are still rising in the hardest hit #B11529 dominant provinces in South Africa 🇿🇦
2) I agree with this a lot - that is we don’t know enough about severity yet. And “clinical observation” is just anecdotal — not systematic— it’s anti epidemiology and anti evidence based. Let’s wait for severity data.