“I get the impression that people mainly hope that this is positive news,” says virologist Bert Niesters of the University of Groningen. “But whether the omikron variant is worse or less bad, it doesn’t matter that much. More importantly, it is more contagious and so the R-number shoots up.”
According to the recent research of the Imperial College London the chance of being hospitalized for at least one day with an omicron infection is about 40 to 45 percent smaller than with the delta variant. For people who have not yet been vaccinated and have not had corona, this would be 11 percent. Once in the hospital, the course of the disease is similar to that in people who have the delta variant.
Footnote
The researchers do note, however, that few elderly people or people in poorer health took part in the study. That’s because at the time the study was done, young people in particular became infected with the omikron variant.
–
–
Also in South Africa there is a large-scale study done to the new corona variant. Since November, omikron has been virtually the only variant that is still going around. The results of that study are comparable to those from Great Britain.
Virologist Niesters also has a lot to do with this study. “In South Africa it is currently summer and many people are on holiday, then they behave differently. In addition, the population there is different and there are fewer elderly people.” According to him, the results are therefore less applicable to the Netherlands.
–
–
The fear is that the hospitals will eventually become full because omikron is so much more contagious. “The problem is that we still have a large group of people who have not had a booster shot because we started it too late,” Niesters says. “Not all risk groups have had a booster shot yet and they are much more likely to end up in hospital.”
No conclusions yet
How exactly the omikron variant will behave remains to be seen. That is also the reason that no firm conclusions can yet be drawn from the British research. In addition, the results of the study are still premature, because the study itself has not yet been completed. The RIVM also calls it too early to draw conclusions. Today the OMT is discussing the omikron variant. “My conclusion is that there is still too little to say about it. More data must be available first,” said OMT member and medical microbiologist Ann Vossen.
“The data that has been researched in the British study also covers a limited period of time,” says data journalist Jasper Bunskoek of RTL Nieuws. “After all, omikron has not been in the United Kingdom for that long. In general, the more data you have, the more precise the results. We can therefore assume that the percentages of hospital admissions that now emerge over a longer period of time, will change.”
–
–
Omikron was first reported in South Africa at the end of November, but is now circulating worldwide. Since the week of November 21, the variant has also been found in Dutch germ surveillance. RIVM expects the new variant to be dominant in the Netherlands before the turn of the year.
–
–
