UK research suggests Omicron variant less likely to get people hospitalized

The latest variant of the disease which has been generally perceived as more dangerous due to its capacity to spread faster than its predecessors is now being tagged as less dangerous using data from Public Health Scotland that has found that people are two-thirds less likely to get hospitalized from Omicron when compared with the Delta variant.

The research also claims that the Omicron variant is likely to show milder symptoms in people than the other variants, especially in fully vaccinated people. This news is likely going to be welcome around countries of the world that have been suffering from rising infections due to the emergence of the new variant.

The conclusion from the research from Public Health Scotland is also echoed by a study released from the UK’s Imperial College London that also showed that hospitalizations are less likely to occur with Omicron when compared with the Delta variant, although its conclusions are not as robust as that of the Public Health Scotland study.

The London study included about 56,000 Omicron variant cases and about 269,000 Delta variant cases to reach its conclusions.

Although the research has not been peer-reviewed and reactions to the news are still tentative as mentioned by Dr. Jim McMenamin, a director at Public Health Scotland who insists that “it’s important that we don’t get ahead of ourselves. The potentially serious impact of omicron on a population can’t be underestimated.”