LONDON: The risk of hospitalization with the omicron variant is about a third of Delta, according to English analysis of more than one million cases of both types in the past few weeks.
England experienced a surge in cases driven by Omicron which was very translated, with the records of the reported daily infection rate.
While hospital admissions have begun to rise, the government said it believed the new variant was lighter than the Delta variant.
The number of patients who need a mechanical ventilation bed also remains stable until December, unlike the previous peak in a pandemic.
This analysis was published by the British Health Security Agency, after working with the University of Cambridge University MRC unit to analyze 528,176 cases of omicron and 573,012 delta cases.
It also found that vaccines can work well against Omicron.
“In this analysis, the risk of hospitalization is lower for omicron cases with symptomatic or asymptomatic infections after 2 and 3 vaccine doses, with 81% …
risk reduction in hospitalization after 3 doses compared to the omicron case that is not vaccinated,” Ukhsa said.
Susan Hopkins, head of medical advisory in UKHSA, said the analysis was in accordance with encouraging signs but said health services could still struggle with a high level of transmission.