The Omicron variant of COVID-19 is milder than the Delta variant, according to a report from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) which is expected to be released in the next few days.
“The Omicron coronavirus variant is causing a milder disease than the Delta strain in most Britons, U.K. government scientists are set to conclude,” Politico reported. “The U.K. Health Security Agency is due to publish its early real-world data on the severity of the disease before Christmas, and Playbook is told the experts are likely to offer a mixed outlook, with some positives and some negatives.”
“More people are likely to have a mild illness with less serious symptoms — probably in part due to Britain’s large number of vaccinated and previously infected people, and possibly because Omicron may be intrinsically milder,” Politico added. “Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty has previously cautioned against too much optimism based on the initial optimistic signs from South Africa in the past few weeks. However, the UKHSA’s view after studying cases in Britain is that Omicron is indeed usually less severe than Delta.”
But the report did warn that “while Omicron seems milder overall, the UKHSA has found it is not necessarily mild enough to avoid large numbers of hospitalizations. The experts have found evidence that for those who do become severely ill, there is still a high chance of hospitalization and death.”
A new study has also found that the Omicron variant appears to be significantly milder than previous variants.
“Early evidence suggests fewer people are needing hospital treatment – potentially around a two-thirds reduction – than with other variants,” BBC News reported.
“The study in Scotland has been tracking coronavirus and the number of people ending up in hospital,” the outlet added. “It said that if Omicron behaved the same as Delta then they would expect around 47 people to have been admitted to hospital already. At the moment there are only 15.”
