The risks of hospitalization in connection with the Covid are 69% lower with Omicron than with Delta, the Norwegian health authorities indicated on Wednesday January 12, thus confirming the indications according to which this variant seems less dangerous.
"
Preliminary analysis of Norwegian data suggests that the risk of hospitalization with Covid-19 as the main cause is 69% lower with the Omicron variant compared to infections with the Delta variant
," writes the Norwegian Institute of Public Health ( FHI) in its weekly report.
Read also Anthony Fauci: after Omicron, the United States could manage to "live with" the virus
The Omicron variant was found in 32% of people hospitalized with Covid in the Scandinavian country during the first week of 2022 (24 out of 74) against a proportion of 1.7% four weeks earlier (3 out of 175).
But, over the same period, the variant has become widely predominant, now accounting for around 90% of new infections.
"
The Omicron variant has a significantly lower risk than the Delta variant of developing a severe form of the disease in infected people, at least in unvaccinated people
," the FHI pointed out in another risk assessment report. .
Read alsoOmicron will bring Covid-19 out of the pandemic phase, estimates the European Medicines Agency
The institute, however, says it expects a winter wave that will put the health service under pressure: from January to March, "
several hundred thousand
" people should be infected according to its projections, with daily peaks that could approach 50,000 cases. .
Norway has 5.4 million inhabitants.
Faced with the resurgence of the epidemic on the national territory, the government reintroduced health measures in mid-December, including a ban on the sale of alcohol in bars and restaurants, and a generalization of teleworking where it's possible.
He announced a press conference Thursday at 7:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. GMT).
