Omicron patients less likely to need hospital care than Delta cases: UK data

Even as the number of COVID-19 cases in the UK keep increasing to record highs, the country's health security agency on Thursday said early data showed the Omicron variant was less severe than previous mutations.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) claimed early results suggest people are 30 to 45 per cent less likely to go to accident and emergency care if they are infected with Omicron rather than Delta. They are also 50 to 70 per cent less likely to be admitted to hospital.

The UKHSA analysis is based on all cases of Omicron and Delta in the UK since the beginning of November, including 132 people admitted to hospital with the new variant. There have also been 14 deaths in people within 28 days of catching Omicron.

The findings coincide with two other studies based on real-world COVID-19 UK data, which also report that the Omicron variant is less severe than the Delta variant, with fewer infected people requiring hospitalisation. The findings also show that preventive effects of a booster COVID vaccine dose wane after 10 weeks but experts stressed that vaccines remain the best defence against severe disease.

The UKHSA noted the early findings on Omicron severity were encouraging. However, UK Health Secretary Sajid Javed said it was “too early” to determine “next steps”, BBC News reported. Javed was quoted by BBC News as saying, “Cases of the variant continue to rise at an extraordinary rate—already surpassing the record daily number in the pandemic. Hospital admissions are increasing, and we cannot risk the NHS [National Health Service] being overwhelmed.”

“Omicron is spreading fast and the COVID-19 vaccine remains our best line of defence against it,” said Dr Jenny Harries, UKHSA chief executive.

The UKHSA's analysis came on a day that the UK reported 119,789 COVID cases.

Other studies

Research by Imperial College London found that people with PCR-confirmed Omicron are 40-45 per cent less likely to spend a night or more in hospital compared with Delta. Those with Omicron after a previous infection are 50-60 per cent less likely to be hospitalised, compared with those with no previous infection. However, the risk of hospitalisation is higher for those who are unvaccinated, according to the study.

The sample for the Imperial College study, which is yet to be peer reviewed, included 56,000 Omicron cases and 269,000 Delta cases.

Another research by the University of Edinburgh and other experts in Scotland, based on a small sample of 15 people in hospital, also concluded a two-thirds reduction in the risk of COVID-19 hospitalisation when compared with Delta.

(With PTI inputs)