A new study of unprecedented scale in the UK shows that the risk of hospitalization as a result of infection with the omicron variant of the corona virus is two-thirds lower than that of the Delta strain.
The study, the results of which were published by the British Institute of Health Security, was conducted among more than a million subjects infected with both strains, making it the largest study conducted on the spread of the omicron variant.
The study was conducted through the MRC Institute of the University of Cambridge, and involved about half a million infected with Omicron and about half a million infected with the Delta variant.
The study also found that those vaccinated in the second and third doses had an 80 percent lower chance of needing hospitalization after being infected with Omicron compared to those who were not vaccinated.
The findings are consistent with similar data recently uncovered in South Africa.
"The results of our new study are consistent with other encouraging signs received in recent weeks regarding the risk of the variant. It is important to note that it is still too early to draw firm conclusions as to the level of hospitalization risk posed by the variant." To map to a significant burden on hospitals, ”says Susan Hopkins, chief scientific adviser to the UK Health Security Agency.
Meanwhile, another study published by the Biological Institute at the University of Berlin argued that the least risk posed by the omicron stems from the fact that the virus tends to infect lung cells much less and consequently, in most cases, does not cause acute pneumonia like other coronavirus strains.
The study, which was performed on animals and human tissues - but not on living humans - has not yet been peer-reviewed.
"It can be said that the picture that emerges is of a virus that mainly affects the upper respiratory system," says Professor Oland Ellis of the University of Berlin.
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