Covid: South Africa 'punished' for detecting new Omicron variant

[LisaL]

7. That's how it starts-then boom!

It's way too early to know how deadly it will turn out to be. It appears to be very contagious, so just by sheer number of infections, deaths and hospitalizations will likely go up, even if it's not actually more deadly than delta.
It seems to be affecting young people more (but maybe just because it's still early and young people are more likely to be out and about).

“Young people, in their 20s to just over their late 30s, are coming in with moderate to severe disease, some needing intensive care. About 65% are not vaccinated and most of the rest are only half-vaccinated,” said Mathivha. “I’m worried that as the numbers go up, the public health care facilities will become overwhelmed.”

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/covid-variant-threat-worldwide-scramble-81417682