The omikron variant of the coronavirus is less likely to lead to severe illness and hospitalization. That concludes a British study conducted by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
According to the study, someone with an omikron infection is 45 percent less likely to end up in intensive care than someone who became infected with delta. The chance of “normal” hospital admission is even 70 percent lower.
The results show that omikron causes reinfection more often than previous variants. It is also assumed that the vaccines work less well against the new variant. For example, the protection against it decreases after ten weeks.
The UKHSA points out that the omikron variant is currently mainly circulated among young people, who have less hospitalization anyway. However, if the vulnerable population group is also more affected, there is a chance that the hospital figures will still skyrocket.