Initial data shows Omicron may be a milder Covid strain
were reported on 27 November, when two people with links to travel in southern Africa tested positive in England. At the end of November, there were 22 cases in England and Scotland – cases have continued to rise since then.by the WHO – previous variants of concern include Alpha, which was colloquially known as the ‘Kent variant’, and Delta, which remains the most dominant variant in the UK for the time being.
Omicron was named after the 15th letter in the Greek alphabet, even though it’s not the 15th variant to be identified.– not only have there been other, less concerning variants that have received Greek names but the WHO decided to skip some of the letters, such as Nu and Xi, primarily to avoid confusion with the English word ‘new’ and the common surname Xi.Boris Johnson has urged people not to get carried away by the news that Omicron could cause milder illness.
suggested that while the Omicron variant seems to spread faster than previous variants, it may cause less serious illness.on the Omicron variant has showed that it appears to be milder, with a 20%-25% reduced chance of a hospital visit and at least a 40% lower risk of being admitted overnight. The full report by Imperial College found that the risk of any attendance at hospital was between 20% to 25% lower with Omicron versus the Delta variant, and around 40%-45% lower when the visit resulted in admission for at least one night. For the small percentage of people who had neither been previously infected with Covid nor vaccinated, the risk of hospitalisation was about 11% lower for Omicron versus Delta.