Omi Keron is not so gentle, research shows hospitalization rates are converging Delta

People have been hoping that Omicron will become a large flu to end this global epidemic. However, as the understanding of Omicron gradually deepens, studies have found that Omicron is far from being as mild as imagined, and hospitalization rates have increased in many countries. On December 16, Imperial College London issued a research report stating that although it is currently based on relatively small case data analysis, compared with Delta, there is no evidence that the number of hospitalizations caused by Omicron infection will decrease. .

According to the report, the frequency of Omicron variants has increased rapidly relative to Delta. During the study period, the exponential growth rate of its frequency was estimated to be 0.34/day (doubling time or 2 days). According to data released by the Public Health Agency of England (PHE) on June 11, the Delta mutant virus has a doubling time of 4.5 to 11.5 days.

The above report shows that Omicron is significantly different from Delta in terms of age and regional distribution. The infection rate of Omicron is significantly higher than that of Delta for residents aged 18-29, London area, and African descent. In addition, the risk of Omicron reinfection is 5.41 times higher than that of Delta. This indicates that the remaining immunity level of the previously infected person is relatively low.

From the data released in Denmark on December 13, it can also be seen that the hospitalization rate of people infected with Omicron seems to be comparable to the hospitalization rate of people infected with other variants. But this comparison is only based on approximately 3,400 Omicron infection cases and 37 hospitalizations.

Due to the short duration of Omicron infection cases, many epidemiological features of Omicron have not yet been fully demonstrated. Although the amount of data is still too small to give a definite conclusion on the severity of the disease caused by Omicron, what can be seen at present is that its transmission speed and escape immunity are not small. Even if the risk of serious illness or death is relatively low, the rapid spread will put considerable pressure on the healthcare system.