Page 1/19 Clinical severity of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 lineages in South Africa Nicole Wolter (  nicolew@nicd.ac.za ) National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) of the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS), https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9526-0133 Waasila Jassat National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Johannesburg https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4279-3056 Sibongile Walaza National Institute for Communicable Diseases Richard Welch National Institute for Communicable Diseases https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8298-8697 Harry Moultrie National Institute for Communicable Diseases Michelle Groome National Institute for Communicable Diseases Daniel Amoako National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Service https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3551-3458 Josie Everatt National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) of the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS), https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0373-2093 Jinal Bhiman National Institute for Communicable Diseases https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6354-4003 Cathrine Scheepers University of the Witwatersrand https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1683-0282 Naume Tebeila National Institute for Communicable Diseases Nicola Chiwandire National Institute for Communicable Diseases Mignon du Plessis National Health Laboratory Service https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9186-0679 Nevashan Govender National Institute for Communicable Diseases Arshad Ismail National Institute For Communicable Diseases (NICD) https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4672-5915