Omicron has an 80% lower risk of hospitalization, new study shows

Once admitted to the hospital, the risk of serious illness is no different from that of other forms, said scientists lead author Nicole Walter and Cheryl Cohen.

Compared to Delta infections in South Africa between April and November, Omicron infections are associated with a 70% lower risk of severe disease, he said. Omicron data was collected for the two months from November.

Since being identified by South African scientists on 25 November, the Omicron variant has fueled record case numbers across the country. Africa’s most developed economy has fully vaccinated about 44% of its adult population in a seven-month period.

In data that is being submitted to a preprint medical publication – MedRxiv – the authors adjusted for various confounding factors that could affect results including age, gender and whether cases are known to have revaccination. They also adjusted for the presence of other diseases and prior vaccination, for disease severity after admission.

The study also showed that people with Omicron may have a higher viral load.

The study is “important”, although the use of so-called historical controls that compared delta transitions between April and November means its results may be biased by timing issues, said Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the UK’s former university. Anglia.

“So even though Omicron cases were less likely to end up in the hospital than Delta cases, it is not possible to say whether this is due to an underlying difference in the virulence or whether it is due to the higher population immunity compared to earlier in November.” year,” said Hunter.

The authors marked similar boundaries.