The risk of hospitalization due to symptoms of the Omicron variant is 40% lower than the Delta variant. This is what the data of a research conducted in Great Britain by a team of the Imperial College, led by Professor Neil Ferguson indicate.
The researchers analyzed hospitalizations and vaccination data across all confirmed cases with molecular tests in England between 1 and 14 December. In the report released today, the scientists found that hospital admissions of at least one day were between 40% and 45% lower in those infected with the Omicron variant, compared to those who had contracted the Delta variant of the virus.
Comforting data regarding even the simple visit to the hospital: those infected with Omicron have a 15-20% less risk – compared to a positive for Delta – of having to go to an emergency room. For people not vaccinated and never infected before, the risk of hospitalization associated with Omicron is 11% lower than with Delta. On average, an Omicron patient’s stay in hospital is 0.22 days. With Delta, it was 0.32.
The data, according to the authors of the study, do not change the picture relating to the dangers of stress for hospitals: the contagiousness of the Omicron variant is such as to make a scenario with about 3,000 daily hospitalizations in January in England plausible if further restrictive measures are not adopted. . “Given the other transmissibility of the Omicron variant – the words of Professor Ferguson – there remains the possibility, for the health service, to face increasing” care “requests if the infections continue to grow at the rate seen in recent weeks”.