UK data indicate that hospitalization is less likely with Omicron
London, Dec 24 (BUS): Preliminary data showed that people with the Omicron type of coronavirus were 50% to 70% less likely to be admitted to hospital compared to those with the Delta strain, Britain’s Public Health Agency announced Thursday in the discovery that one The Associated Press (AP) reported that the researcher called it a “small ray of sunlight.”
The findings from the UK’s Health Security Agency add to emerging evidence that Omicron produces milder disease than other variants. But scientists caution that any reduction in severity must be weighed against the fact that Omicron spreads much faster than Delta and is better at avoiding vaccines.
Based on cases in the UK, it is estimated that a person with omicron is 31% to 45% less likely to go to a hospital emergency department than someone with delta, “and 50 to 70% less likely to be admitted to hospital,” the agency said.
She cautioned that the analysis was “preliminary and highly uncertain” due to the small number of Omicron patients in hospitals and the fact that most of them are in younger age groups. As of 20 December, 132 people were admitted to UK hospitals with a confirmed Omicron. 14 of them died, aged 52 to 96.
Countries around the world are studying Britain, where Omicron is now prevalent and where COVID-19 cases are up more than 50% in a week.
Experts who were not involved in the analysis described it as encouraging.
“For me, it’s a small ray of sunlight among all the dark clouds,” said Dr. Jonathan Lee, director of the Harvard/Brigham Laboratory of Virology.
The signs that oomicrons may cause less serious disease than delta are also consistent with lab data that oomicrons do not grow well in cells derived from the lungs, Lee said.
Dr. Bruce Walker, director of the Ragon Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT and Harvard University, added that the findings add to similar data from South Africa.
There are still things unknown, Walker said, such as the relative severity of omicron in a person who has been vaccinated compared to someone who has had COVID-19 before or someone who is not immunized and has not developed the disease.
He said vaccination is still crucial.
“The bottom line is the best way anyone can prepare for this new wave is to get vaccinated, and if someone is already vaccinated, to get a booster dose,” said Walker, an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Supports the Associated Press’s Department of Health and Science.
The British agency’s research said the protection provided by the booster vaccine against symptomatic oomicron infection appears to wane after about 10 weeks, although protection from hospitalization and acute illness is likely to last longer.
UK reproductive health chief Jenny Harris said the analysis “shows an encouraging early indication that people who contract the omicron variant may have a relatively lower risk of hospitalization than those who contract the other variants”.
But, she added, “cases are currently very high in the UK, and even a relatively low proportion requiring hospitalization can result in a significant number of people becoming seriously ill.”
The analysis follows two studies, from Imperial College London and Scottish researchers, that found patients with oomicrons were 20% to 68% less likely to be treated in hospital than those with delta.
Even if early studies are proven, the new variant could overwhelm health systems due to the sheer number of infections. The UK health agency said Omicron appeared to be able to reinfect people more easily than previous variants, with 9.5% of Omicron cases in people who had already contracted COVID-19 – a number it said was likely an underestimate.
Britain reported nearly 120,000 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases on Thursday, the highest number so far during the pandemic and on the second day the number topped 100,000.
The British Office for National Statistics estimated that about 1 in 45 people in private homes in England – 1.2 million individuals – contracted COVID-19 in the week ending December 16, the highest level seen in the pandemic.
Britain’s Conservative government this month reinstated rules requiring face masks in stores and ordering people to show evidence of vaccination or a negative coronavirus test before entering nightclubs and other crowded places in an effort to slow the spread of Omicron.
The government said Thursday that it will not impose any new restrictions before Christmas, but it may do so soon after.
Officials also urged people to get tested regularly and to reduce social contact. Many in Britain have heeded this advice, leaving leisure and hospitality companies reeling at what should be the busiest time of the year.
Experts noted that staying out of the hospital should not be the only goal; People should also try to avoid COVID-19 for a long time, which can result from a mild infection.
“We are all excited to hear that this is immediately less severe in terms of disease,” Walker said. “But do we know what the potential for the coronavirus to be for a long time? No, we don’t. There hasn’t been enough time (this) to know if Omicron is related to the long-running COVID virus.”
Louis Mansky, director of the Institute for Molecular Virology at the University of Minnesota, said there isn’t enough data to know how Omicron will perform in the United States.
“It’s back to the state of health of the average American,” Mansky said. “We have other epidemics in terms of obesity and cardiovascular disease,” he said, explaining that “the overall health of the individual” will be an important factor in how sick they are from omicron.
AOQ