Multiple studies suggest lower risk of hospitalization with Omicron variant of COVID-19

London — People infected with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus may be at lower risk of severe illness and hospitalization compared to those infected with the Delta strain, early studies from the United Kingdom and South Africa suggest. Scientists warn, however, that the picture could change as more people become ill with the highly transmissible new variant, and that health systems could still be overwhelmed.

Two separate British studies, looking at real-world data from England and Scotland, have backed up evidence from South Africa to point to less severity with Omicron cases, however. In England, they analyzed hospital records and vaccination data from the start of December, including 56,000 cases of Omicron and 269,000 cases of Delta. They found that the rate of hospitalization with Omicron was 20% to 25% lower than with the Delta infections, and that the rate of people staying in the hospital for at least one night with Omicron was was around 40% to 45% lower.

In Scotland, scientists scrutinized data from November 1 to December 19. In their pre-print paper, they said "early national data suggest that Omicron is associated with a two-thirds reduction in the risk of COVID-19 hospitalization when compared to Delta."