Angelik Kuche, president of the South African Medical Association, said that the average hospital stay for patients infected with Omicron, a new strain of COVID-19, was 2.5 days.
In a telephone interview with Yonhap News on the 16th local time, the president of the association Kuche said, "This is in stark contrast to the average of more than a week during the previous infection wave led by the delta mutation."
Regarding the sharp increase in the number of confirmed cases in South Africa, he explained, "It is true that the omicron mutation is highly contagious, but there are still not many seriously ill patients who require oxygen therapy, etc."
At the same time, three weeks after the announcement of the detection of the Omicron mutation, when asked whether the initial optimistic outlook was maintained, he answered, "I am cautiously optimistic that this outbreak of infection led by Omicron will not be very serious." .
President Kuche was one of the first medical practitioners to report patients with symptoms of omicron mutations.
When asked whether the fact that the number of people infected with Corona 19 in South Africa and the vaccination rate of 38% of adults affected the mild symptoms of the omicron mutation, Kuche said, "It is a possibility, but there are many young people in South Africa. It is also a factor to consider,” he added.