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An analysis of 120,000 Delta cases and 15,000 suspected Omicron cases found that people infected with Omicron were no more likely to be asymptomatic than those infected with Delta, a says UK study reported by the Financial Times.
It therefore remains unclear whether the Omicron coronavirus variant is any less severe than the Delta strain, according to early findings from researchers at Imperial College London.
The research questions whether a change in the virulence of the new variant would ease the pressure on health systems despite Omicron’s high levels of transmissibility.
“The study finds no evidence of Omicron having lower severity than Delta, judged by either the proportion of people testing positive who report symptoms, or by the proportion of cases seeking hospital care after infection,” said Professor Neil Ferguson, an infectious disease modeller and government science adviser.
Researchers cautioned that hospitalisation data “remains very limited at this time”. The study said data suggested “at most, limited changes in severity compared with Delta”.
Early reports from medics in South Africa’s Gauteng province, the centre of the Omicron outbreak there, had raised hopes that the variant’s mutations might have led to a change in the virus’ biology causing it to be less severe. MORE HERE …
