Good News is Omicron May be Less Severe, Bad News is it’s Surging Faster
People with Omicron are significantly less likely to develop severe symptoms, according to new analysis by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) released Thursday.
Early results suggest people are 30 to 45 per cent less likely to go to A&E if they are infected with Omicron than with Delta. They are also 50 to 70 per cent less likely to need to be admitted to hospital, according to the UKHSA.
New variant was more transmissible than previous ones
However, the UKHSA warned that the new variant was more transmissible than previous ones such as Delta, and could still lead to significant numbers of people needing hospital treatment over coming weeks.
Britain reported a record high of 119,789 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 11,769,921, according to official figures released Thursday.
Another 16,817 Omicron cases have been found in Britain, the biggest daily increase since the COVID-19 variant was detected in the country, taking the total Omicron cases found in the country to 90,906.
The country also reported a further 147 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 147,720.
Meanwhile, an estimated 1.4 million people in Britain had COVID-19 in the week ending December
16. It is the highest number since comparable figures began in autumn 2020, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Around one in 45 people in private households in England had COVID in the week to December 16, up from one in 60 the previous week.
Scientists advise governments
According to new modelling for scientists advising the government, tougher COVID restrictions are going to be needed to stop hospitals being overwhelmed.
Experts at University of Warwick estimate that even if Omicron’s severity is just 20 per cent of Delta’s,
the current plan B restrictions are likely to lead to a peak in daily hospital admissions of just under 5000 a day in England in early January.
The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), which has been advising the government during the pandemic, has warned that COVID data over the Christmas period will be “significantly disrupted.”
In minutes from a meeting on December 20, the group said that “testing behaviour and capacity limits may already be affecting case data”, which would make “interpretation of trends difficult”.
Experts have said there are likely to be hundreds of thousands of infections per day - with many being missed.
More than 89 per cent of people aged 12 and over in Britain have had their first dose of vaccine and more than 82 per cent have received both doses, according to the latest figures.
More than 55 per cent have received booster jabs, or the third dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines.