Key Takeaways:
- Preliminary data suggests that people with the coronavirus Omicron variant are 50% to 70% less.
- Likely to be hospitalized than those who have the delta strain.
- According to Britain’s public health agency, in a finding that one researcher called “a small ray of sunlight.”
The UK Health Security Agency findings add to the growing body of evidence that Omicron causes less severe illness than other variants. However, scientists warn that any reductions in severity must be balanced against the fact that Omicron spreads much faster than delta and is more adept at evading vaccines.
Based on cases in the United Kingdom, a person with Omicron is estimated to be 31% to 45% less likely to visit a hospital emergency department than someone with delta, “and 50 to 70% less likely to be admitted to hospital,” according to the agency.
It cautioned that the analysis is “preliminary and highly uncertain” due to the small number of Omicron patients in hospitals and the majority of them were in their younger age groups. As of December 20, 132 people had been admitted to hospitals in the United Kingdom with confirmed Omicron. Fourteen of them died, ranging in age from 52 to 96.
Countries worldwide are keeping a close eye on Britain, where Omicron is now dominant, and COVID-19 cases have increased by more than 50% in a week.
According to Li, the signs that Omicron may cause less severe disease than delta are also consistent with lab data indicating that Omicron does not grow as well in cells derived from the lungs.
Dr. Bruce Walker, director of the Ragon Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard, added that the findings add to similar data from South Africa.
Walker stated that there are still unknowns, such as the severity of Omicron in someone who has been vaccinated versus someone who has previously had COVID-19 or someone who is unvaccinated and has not had the disease. Vaccination is still essential, he says.
Source: Business Standard
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