New studies suggest Omicron infections are less severe than Delta variant

People getting infected with Omicron are 50% to 70% less likely to need hospital care compared with previous Covid variants, says an analysis

PGurus Newsdesk

December 25, 2021

People getting infected with Omicron are 50% to 70% less likely to need hospital care compared with previous Covid variants, says an analysis

Omicron variant appears less likely to cause severe COVID-19 illness than Delta variant

According to the latest analysis of the Omicron variant, it has been found that people are far less likely to be admitted to hospitals with the Omicron Covid variant than the previous Delta strain.

The study also showed the jab’s ability to stop people from catching Omicron starts to wane 10 weeks after a booster dose.

People getting infected with Omicron are 50 percent to 70 percent less likely to need hospital care compared with previous COVID-19 variants.

The first analysis, which was done by the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Modelling and Imperial College London, found that overall, people infected by Omicron had about a 20% reduced risk of needing any hospital care for their infections and a 40% lower risk of an overnight hospital stay, compared to those infected with Delta.

The second study, from researchers at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa, included more than 29,000 COVID-19 cases that had lab results highly suggestive of Omicron infections. Compared to people infected with the Delta variant, those with presumed Omicron infections were about 70% less likely to have severe disease.

The latest analysis is based on all cases of Omicron and Delta in the UK since the beginning of November, including 132 people admitted to the hospital with the variant.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said that although the early findings are encouraging, the variant could still lead to large numbers of people in hospital.

There have also been 14 deaths in people within 28 days of getting infected with the new variant.

“Our latest analysis shows an encouraging early signal that people who contract the Omicron variant may be at a relatively lower risk of hospitalization than those who contract other variants,” Jenny Harries, the Chief Executive of the UKHSA, was quoted as saying.

However, UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid said it was too early to determine the next steps.

Protection against severe disease is likely to be far more robust, the report said.

The report comes hot on the heels of data from South Africa, Denmark, England, and Scotland which all pointed to reduced severity.

France and the UK report record national highs of new Coronavirus cases as the Omicron variant continues to spread. Meanwhile, Germany’s Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases has confirmed the country’s first death due to the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus on Thursday.

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