British studies confirm – Omicron not so bad after all!
So is Omicron dangerous or not, highly contagious it certainly is! A new, British study now has clear results – this is what Omikron is like:
Is Omicron Dangerous?
Two studies from the U.K. show that corona infections are less likely to lead to hospitalization with the Omikron variant compared with the Delta variant. The preliminary study results released Wednesday thus confirmed earlier findings from South Africa, where the Omikron variant was first registered. However, experts warned against excessive optimism.
In a study in Scotland, researchers examined covid cases recorded in November and December. They compared infections with the Omikron variant with those with the Delta variant. The study found that Omikron reduced the risk of hospitalization for Covid-19 by two-thirds compared to Delta, and that booster vaccination provided significant additional protection against symptomatic disease.
However, the study’s caseload was small and no people under the age of 60 were hospitalized. However, the authors said they used statistical methods to compensate for these limitations. Study author Jim McMenamin told reporters that the study results were conditionally “good news” – conditionally because they were early observations, but “statistically significant.”
Significantly fewer people in hospital
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Another study in England found that the number of any hospitalizations with Omikron decreased by 20 to 25 percent compared with Delta. The number of hospitalizations that lasted one night or longer decreased by as much as 40 to 45 percent. The Scottish study only looked at stays of at least one night, so this could explain some of the difference found.
Azra Ghani of Imperial College London, who co-authored the English study, said: “The reduced risk of hospitalisation with the Omikron variant is reassuring, but the risk of infection remains extremely high.” He added that booster vaccination “continues to offer the best protection against infection and hospitalization.”
None of the studies have yet been independently peer-reviewed. However, the studies add to a growing body of scientific evidence that appears to confirm a less severe course of omicron infections. It remains unclear, however, whether the observed lower rate of severe cases is due to the characteristics of the omicron variant or whether the disease is milder because it strikes populations that have stronger immunity from previous infections and vaccinations.
Professor of Pharmaceutical Medicine at King’s College London, Penny Ward, who was not involved in the studies, said they “do not change the extraordinary spread of this variant in the population”. She said the fact was that “even a small proportion of people needing hospital treatment for covid can become a very large number if the number of infections in the population continues to rise.”