Following initial studies, surveys by the British health authority UKHSA have now also shown that Omicron apparently causes significantly milder courses of disease than previous variants of the coronavirus. The risk of having to be hospitalized after an infection is 50 to 70 percent lower with Omicron than with the Delta variant, which previously dominated in the UK, the authority explained yesterday. At the same time, it warned against jumping to conclusions because only a few data are available so far.
The data are “preliminary” and scientifically “very uncertain,” the agency stressed. So far, 132 hospital admissions for omicron have been registered in the United Kingdom, more than 40 percent of them in London.
Peak in infections
Two studies had already been published in the U.K. the previous day, suggesting that infections with the Omicron variant are less likely to result in hospitalization compared with the Delta variant. The preliminary study results confirmed earlier findings from South Africa, where the Omicron variant was first discovered. However, experts caution against over-optimism because of the high rate of infection with Omicron.
However, the variant is significantly more contagious. In Great Britain, a new peak was registered. Within 24 hours, 119,789 new cases were reported, according to the authorities. This is once again significantly more than the previous day, when the threshold of 100,000 cases was exceeded within one day for the first time.
- source: orf.at/picture: pixabay.com
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