Coronavirus: Omicron ‘does not cause the same disease’ as previous executives, says British professor

The horrific scenes we experienced in the previous waves of the pandemic are “now history,” according to John Bell, a professor of medicine at Oxford University and a UK government life science consultant.

Speaking on the BBC’s Radio 4, Bell analyzed data from the United Kingdom, which showed that coronavirus cases were “breaking” one record after another and hospital admissions had risen to their highest level since March, however the number of vaccinated patients in intensive care units remains “very, very low”.

“The incidence of serious illness and death from this disease [Covid] “It has not really changed since we were all vaccinated and it is very important to remember that,” he told the BBC, according to CNBC.

“The horrific scenes we saw a year ago – with full ICUs and many people dying prematurely – are now history in my view and I think we need to be confident that this will probably continue,” he added.

Referring to the new mutated strain Omicron of the coronavirus, he added that “the disease it causes seems to be less serious, as many people stay relatively short in the hospital, do not need oxygen and the average length of hospital stay is about three days, not the same disease we saw it a year ago “.

A UK government study released on Thursday found that people were much less likely to be admitted to hospital because of the Omicron variant than the previous Delta executive.

The UK Health and Safety Administration says people with Omicron are 31% to 45% less likely to end up in an emergency than those with Delta strain, but also 50 to 70% less likely to need treatment. .

The analysis is “early and extremely precarious” due to the small number of Omicron cases in hospitals, but it is in line with findings from studies by scientists in South Africa and researchers at Imperial College London and the University of Edinburgh. .

However, although the number of daily deaths remains low and initial research shows that the Omicron variant is not as severe as other coronavirus strains, health experts have repeatedly warned that the huge number of infections could lead to an increase in deaths. and in the overload of the health system.

Danny Altman, a professor of immunology at Imperial College London, told CNBC last week that even if Omicron proved to be “milder” than other executives, the potential burden could double or triple the number of people need hospitalization in the United Kingdom, where the virus is uncontrollable – at the risk of being unvaccinated.