The risk of hospitalization with Omicron is lower than other variables

Since the emergence of the new variant of SARS-CoV-2, women and scientists have once again made every effort to analyze whether a mutation spreads more easily, what response to available vaccines is, and whether it essentially causes more severe forms of the disease.

In this sense, Two recent studies simultaneously concluded that the risk of hospitalization in patients with Omicron was significantly lower than in the other variables.

One of the works was carried out by experts from University of Edinburgh and Strathclyde in Scotland, concluded that The first national data indicate the association of micron with Two-thirds reduction in risk of hospitalization from COVID-19 compared to Delta“. The study added that A third booster dose of any licensed emergency vaccine provides significant additional protection Against the risks of COVID-19 symptoms of omicron infection.

Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon said early data from work was encouraging but still doubled down on her warning that the Omicron variant could still pose a risk to the economy and the healthcare system if enough people were infected with it at once.

The Scottish study stems from other recent work in South Africa, which indicates a lower risk of hospitalization and serious illness in people with the Omicron variant of MERS-CoV compared to Delta.

While the authors stress that part of this is likely due to the population’s high immunity, questions about Ómicron’s virulence are the focus of scientific and political debate in many countries, as governments struggle over how to respond to the spread of the variant as researchers rush to understand it.

Study that has not yet been peer-reviewed, found that people diagnosed with Omicron in South Africa were 80% less likely to be admitted to hospital than those diagnosed with another variant in the same period.

Among the patients admitted in the period analyzed, those with the Omicron variant had a similar probability of developing severe disease as those with other mutations. sHowever, the study found that people who were hospitalized with the new variant were 70% less likely to develop serious illness than those who were admitted to Delta between April and November..

“Convincingly, our data as a whole really suggest a positive history of lower omicron severity compared to other variables,” said Professor Sherrill Cohen of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NICD), one of the study’s authors.

This was reinforced by surveillance data that showed significantly fewer hospitalizations and deaths in the current wave of infections led by Omicron in South Africa than in previous waves, even though the number of cases was much higher, he said.

Cohen said that The results of the study could potentially be generalized to other countries in sub-Saharan Africa that also have very high levels of past infection.

“What is not clear is whether the picture will be similar in countries with high levels of vaccination but very low levels of previous infection,” he said during a news conference for a group of National Institute of Internal Diseases (NICD) scientists.

The study was conducted by a group of scientists from the NICD and leading institutions such as the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

The authors include many warnings and advice Do not jump to conclusions about the intrinsic properties of Omicron. “It is difficult to reveal the relative contribution of higher levels of immunity in the above population to lower intrinsic virulence to the lower observed disease severity,” they wrote.

Cohen noted that an estimated 60% to 70% of people in South Africa have previously had COVID-19 infection.

Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at Britain’s University of East Anglia, called the South African study significant, saying it was the first properly conducted study to appear in pre-printed form comparing omicron intensities versus delta.

However, Hunter found that comparing the micron data with delta data at different time periods made it difficult to determine whether the lower hospitalization rates were due to the less virulent micron or increased immunity of the population.

“To some extent, this does not concern the patient, who is only worried that he will not become seriously ill. But it is important to know this in order to allow a better understanding of the potential pressures on the health services,” the specialist explained.

Results of a major study from Imperial College London published last week already showed that there was no sign that microns were milder than Delta, although data on hospitalizations remains very limited.

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