The wave of Omicron appears to be milder with fewer people requiring hospitalisation than the Delta variant according to new studies published in the UK and South Africa.
Estimates in the three studies suggest that there is a 30% to 80% reduction in the number of people infected with the Omicron variant that need to be admitted to hospitals for treatment as compared to the earlier Delta wave.
The preliminary studies are from Scotland and England and the third is a bigger study from South Africa.
However, there is still need to worry about the fast rate at which the Omicron is spreading and the sheer numbers could overwhelm healthcare systems.
The study in Scotland has been tracking coronavirus and the number of people ending up in hospital during November and December.
It said that if Omicron behaved the same as Delta, they would expect about 47 people to have been admitted to hospital already. At the moment there are only 15.
The researchers said they were seeing a roughly two-thirds reduction in the number needing hospital care, but there were very few cases and few at-risk elderly people in the study.
The study was small, but the authors said they had adjusted for these limitations using statistical methods.
“We’re saying that this is qualified good news—qualified because these are early observations, they are statistically significant, and we are showing a reduced risk of hospitalisations,” Jim McMenamin, a co-author of the Scottish research, told journalists.
The second study from England, found there was a 20-25 percent reduction in any attendance at hospital for Omicron compared to Delta, and a 40-45 percent reduction in hospital admissions.
Another study in South Africa also points to the Omicron wave being milder.
It showed people were 70-80% less likely to need hospital treatment, depending on whether Omicron is compared to previous waves, or other variants currently circulating.
However, it suggested there was no difference in outcomes for the few patients that ended up in hospital with Omicron.
“Compellingly, together our data really suggest a positive story of a reduced severity of Omicron compared to other variants,” said Prof Cheryl Cohen of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, in South Africa.
The reduction in severity is thought to be a combination of the fundamental properties of the Omicron variant as well as high levels of immunity from vaccinations and previous infections.
However, experts also point out that the Omicron variant is spreading very quickly and a high number of cases could wipe out any benefit of it being milder.
The UK recorded more than 100,000 cases in a single day as infections surge which has the potential of overwhelming the healthcare system.
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