In London, where the Omicron variant surged before Christmas, there is now a downward trend in the number of hospital admissions, but concerns remain over if reinfection occurs more easily with this variant
People in the UK will be hoping the variant has peaked (
Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
There are hopes that the UK is approaching the start of a downward trend in cases of the coronavirus across different areas of the UK.
The Omicron variant has caused a huge amount of cases of the virus that have reached record levels and days with recorded cases reaching over 200,000.
Daily figures released by the government indicate that Covid cases are going down and there are hopes the virus has peaked.
However, the figures do not include those who have been reinfected and only those who come forward and test positive. There are likely several more cases we do not know about.
London is where the virus first became rife in the UK and is seeing a downward trend in hospital admissions, while admissions across the UK are staying roughly the same at around the 2,200 mark.
The most recent data we have shows that there were 2,286 people admitted to hospital on January 6
So could the virus have peaked or will people be at risk of reinfection?
Is Omicron more transmissible?
The data appears to show that Omicron is more transmissible than other variants
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Image:
Lancashire Post / SWNS)
It is believed that the UK experienced such a high number of cases partly because Omicron is more transmissible than other variants of concern, like Delta.
A study by Japanese scientist and professor of health and environmental sciences at Kyoto University, Hiroshi Nishiura, drew the conclusion that Omicron was 4.2 times more transmissible in its early stage than Delta.
He said: “The omicron variant transmits more, and escapes immunity built naturally and through vaccines more.”
At the time of publication, the study had not yet been peer-reviewed, estimates by British researchers placed the variant as
.
Further concerns over the variant were that Omicron is better at resisting the existing vaccines and that reinfection could occur.
Can you catch Omicron twice?
There are indications Omicron is more likely to be caught twice
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Image:
AFP via Getty Images)
Reinfection with Omicron is believed to be more likely, as indicated in a study by Imperial College London.
The research, published on December 17, said: “The new report (Report 49) from the Imperial College London Covid-19 response team estimates that the risk of reinfection with the Omicron variant is 5.4 times greater than that of the Delta variant.
“This implies that the protection against reinfection by Omicron afforded by past infection may be as low as 19%.”
Other researchers contended that it was too early to really say if the risk of reinfection was high.
This is an obvious concern as the UK plans to live with the virus in the future.
Dr Amesh Adlja, a senior scholar at John Hopkins Center for Health Security, told KHOU-TV in Houston: “This variant’s infectiousness — including its ability to evade immune systems and prevent long-lasting immunity for those people who are infected with it — is one of the reasons why it’s been able to persist and come back.”
“I suspect over time, yes, you probably can get reinfected,” he said. “But we don’t have that data yet because Omicron has only been around since October/November.”
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