Even as the South African covid variant tightens the grip, analysts at Morgan Stanley (MS) stay hopeful of witnessing a reduction in the Omicron-linked cases with their basic assumption suggesting the virus strain’s peak in 10-12 weeks.

The MS also mentioned that the daily cases are likely ~2-3x the Delta wave.

“If the current rate of new case growth deceleration in South Africa persists, the time to peak could be as short as 5-6 weeks,” also mentioned the US bank.

It’s worth noting that the latest updates suggest the first Omicron-linked death in the US and New Zealand’s push-back of the border reopening plan from January to the end of February.

Read: New Zealand phased border re-opening pushed out due to omicron variant