Another quote from the press-release of the study: >“Epidemiological tracking shows a steep trajectory of new infections, indicating Omicron’s rapid spread, bu

Another quote from the press-release of the study: >“Epidemiological tracking shows a steep trajectory of new infections, indicating Omicron’s rapid spread, but so far with a flatter trajectory of hospital admissions, possibly indicating lower severity,” explains Dr Noach. “This lesser severity could, however, be confounded by the high seroprevalence levels of SARS CoV-2 antibodies in the general South African population, especially following an extensive Delta wave of infections.” [1]. So, to actually make the comparison we'd need to compare new Delta infections with new Omicron infections time-matched, comparing people who were seronegative to start with. This would be really hard to do in South Africa since there is a high proportion of seropositive people. [1] https://www.discovery.co.za/corporate/news-room https://www.discovery.co.za/corporate/news-room