The problem with this is that this is the total number of deaths, not the death rate. You are correct that the total deaths is increasing, but this is to be expected when the total number of infections also increases. Even if omicron proves to be "mild", there will certainly be deaths associated with it.
> OK... so yes death could also be incidental, as well as the increase in oxygenated... Yes, it could be. But what would be the explanation for this "incidental" increase? Some other infection? Remember it is summer in South Africa.
I think the point here is that hospitalizations in general aren't necessarily increasing. People go to the hospital every day for any number of causes, including broken bones, pain, etc. The point is that more of them are infected with Covid than before. This doesn't mean Covid is driving more hospitalizations, it simply means that a greater proportion of people going to the hospital for unrelated causes happen to be infected with Covid at the time they go. This is in line with what you would expect if omicron is both more infectious, and less severe.
> No. But according to the article, "Dr Coetzee said that ..., but added that after one month the case rate in South Africa is already decreasing." With such a high test positivity rate, how can someone say "case rate is decreasing"? On the published data, I don't see any evidence that the case rate is decreasing: the numbers are very high, and likely the limit on the number of tests that can be performed have been reached. The WHO target number for test positivity rate is 5% I think. In a wave it is often higher than that, sure.
To be sure, the test positivity rate in SA is extremely high, so I think its wise to be skeptical of case numbers falling in recent days. We will see if the wave is already crested, or if it will continue to skyrocket.
> Dr Coetzee said "the severity of the disease is mild". Of course there are multiple interpretations of that: it is less severe on average than the Delta variant. Or it could mean: it is like a common cold. It is not clear what Dr Coetzee meant here.
I agree that there are lots of potential interpretations here, and a lot remains to be seen. It may be that it isn't less severe at all, and that what we've seen so far is being confounded by something. But with what little evidence we have, there is at least some reason to be hesitantly optimistic. Hopefully it remains that way.