South African Healthcare CEO: COVID-19 Omicron Cases Are Much Milder so Far

A patient is treated in a hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa in a file photograph. Sumaya Hisham/Reuters

The chief executive of a top hospital system in South Africa, where the Omicron COVID-19 variant emerged in November, said most patients at hospitals in Gauteng are showing milder symptoms than during previous waves.

Netcare CEO Richard Friedland said most COVID-19 Omicron patients in Gauteng don’t need oxygen, noting that’s a change from previous outbreaks.