The preliminary study results published on Wednesday thus confirmed earlier findings from South Africa, where the Omikron variant was first registered. However, experts warned against excessive optimism.
In a study in Scotland, researchers looked at Covid cases recorded in November and December. They compared infections with the Omikron variant with those of the Delta variant. The study found that Omikron reduced the risk of hospitalization for Covid-19 by two-thirds compared to Delta, and that a booster vaccination offered significant additional protection against symptomatic illnesses.
The number of cases in the study was small, however, and no people under the age of 60 were hospitalized. However, the authors stated that they compensated for these limitations using statistical methods. Study author Jim McMenamin told journalists that the study results were conditionally “good news” – conditionally because they were early observations that were “statistically significant”.
Another study in England found that Omikron’s total hospital stays decreased by 20 to 25 percent compared to Delta. The number of stays in hospital that lasted a night or more fell by as much as 40 to 45 percent. The Scottish study only looked at stays of at least one night, so this could explain part of the difference found.
Azra Ghani of Imperial College London, who co-authored the English study, said: “The reduced risk of hospitalization with the Omikron variant is reassuring, but the risk of infection remains extremely high.” A boost to the vaccination would “continue to offer the best protection against infections and hospital stays.”
So far, none of the studies has been independently peer-reviewed. However, the studies are contributing to a growing body of scientific evidence that seems to confirm a less severe course of Omicron infections. It remains unclear, however, whether the lower rate of severe cases observed is due to the characteristics of the omicron variant or whether the disease is milder because it affects populations with greater immunity from previous infections and vaccinations.
Penny Ward, Professor of Pharmaceutical Medicine at King’s College London, who was not involved in the studies, said they “did nothing to change the extraordinary prevalence of this variant in the population.” It is a fact that “even a small proportion of people who need hospital treatment for Covid can become a very large number if the number of infections continues to rise in the population.”
Source: Nachrichten
