The omicron variant of COVID-19 has shown signs of being less virulent than other strains, with early hospital data out of South Africa indicating that patients infected with the variant require less intensive care.

Researchers at Steve Biko/Tshwane District Hospital Complex, a major hospital complex in Pretoria, South Africa’s capital and the center of the omicron outbreak, reported last week that the majority of patients in the COVID-19 ward there were asymptomatic. Their findings reflect similar trends at hospitals across the province as a whole, leading some infectious disease experts to be cautiously optimistic that omicron may manifest in a milder form of illness.