According to the first UK research conducted from The Imperial College suggests that the Omicron variant of coronavirus appears to be milder, with 15% less likely to stay in the hospital and at least a 40% lower risk of being admitted overnight.
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Less lethal Omicron
#Omicron cases are 15% less likely to attend hospital, and 40% less likely to be hospitalised for a night or more, compared to Delta – suggests new estimates from @MRC_Outbreak + @Imperial_Jameel: https://t.co/U6uD5mySu4
— Imperial College (@imperialcollege) December 22, 2021
The sample size of the study included 56,000 Omicron cases and 269,000 Delta cases. According to the findings, individuals who have never had the infection, versus those who were infected by Omicron, are 50-60% less likely to be hospitalized.
The risk of hospitalisation is equal for Omicron and Delta among those who have previously tested positive and have received at least two vaccination doses.
Professor Neil Ferguson from Imperial said:
Our analysis shows evidence of a moderate reduction in the risk of hospitalisation associated with the Omicron variant compared with the Delta variant.
However, this appears to be offset by the reduced efficacy of vaccines against infection with the Omicron variant.
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However, people who are not jabbed have a greater probability of being admitted to the hospital. It comes as reports suggest that Omicron is milder than Delta for most people, albeit the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is yet to report its findings.
Boris Johnson has also voiced his concern, saying that there were ‘too many elderly people’ in hospital with COVID. To minimize ‘excessive’ strain on the NHS, the PM encouraged the UK to ‘get those numbers up.’
Johnson adds:
The most important thing we can do for our country today if we want to protect our NHS, if we want to make sure we don’t have excessive pressures on A&E over what promises to be a tough winter, is to all get our booster jabs when we’re called.
The ardent plea comes as millions of Britons get prepared to have their booster shots to improve their immunity against the new variant.
