Omicron signals future variants may be like colds

THE EMERGENCE of the highly transmissible Omicron variant could be the “first ray of light” that in the future there may be a less severe coronavirus variant that is similar to the common cold, according to a UK scientist.

Dr Mike Tildesley, a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (Spi-M) and a University of Warwick professor, said Omicron could be an indicator that people can live with Covid as an endemic disease.

But as Covid cases continued to rise in the UK and hospitalisations at their highest in almost a year, he cautioned that, “we’re not quite there yet”.

“What might happen in future is you may see the emergence of a new variant that is less severe, and ultimately, in the long term, what happens is Covid becomes endemic and you have a less severe version.

“It’s very similar to the common cold that we’ve lived with for many years,,” he said.

“We’re not quite there yet, but possibly Omicron is the first ray of light that suggests that may happen in the longer term.

“It is much more transmissible than Delta was, which is concerning, but much less severe.”

A total of 18 454 people were in UK hospitals with Covid on January 6, according to government figures. This marks a 40% week-on-week rise and the highest number since February 18.

“On the slightly more positive side, what we are seeing from hospital admissions is that hospital stays do appear to be on average shorter; symptoms appear to be a little bit milder; this is what we are seeing consistently with the Omicron variant,” Tildesley said.