Preliminary Reports Suggest Omicron Variant Milder but Concerns Linger

Scientists are suggesting the omicron variant may be milder than previous strains of coronavirus, according to a string of preliminary reports released Thursday in the UK and South Africa.

Two separate studies have been conducted in the United Kingdom, which conclude on paper the omicron strain of coronavirus appears to be not as harmful as the delta variant, as it results in significantly less hospitalisations.

AP News reports one of the studies, conducted at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, suggests the risk of hospitalisation with omicron was two thirds less than with delta.

In their findings the scientists published, “This national investigation is one of the first to show that Omicron is less likely to result in COVID-19 hospitalisation than Delta”, they also mentioned that while the findings were “encouraging” these are still early observations and not claimed to be conclusive.

The other study published by the Imperial College London coronavirus response team analysed all COVID-19 PCR tests from the first half of December in England and identified 56,000 cases of omicron and 269,000 cases of delta. From these cases they found that those who test positive for omicron are 20 percent less likely to go to hospital than those with the delta variant, and 40 percent less likely to have an overnight stay (or longer) in hospital.

In both studies the conclusions have not been reviewed by other scientists, so cannot be accepted as completely accurate at this stage.

A separate study in South Africa appears to corroborate the findings by suggesting people who catch omicron are 80 percent less likely to be hospitalised, finding that 2.5 percent of omicron cases are hospitalised, compared to 12.8 percent of delta infections, the Daily Mail reports.

These findings come at a time global governments are considering new restrictions for either Christmas or the New Year, with W.H.O. director-general and Ethiopian biologist Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus telling the world to cancel Christmas now, or “grieve later”.

The UK Health Security Agency is expected to publish early real-world data on omicron early in the new year which could give further indications of the variant’s severity.