"Sir John Bell, regius professor of medicine at Oxford University and the government’s life sciences adviser, said that although hospital admissions had increased in recent weeks as Omicron spreads through the population, the disease “appears to be less severe and many people spend a relatively short time in hospital”. Fewer patients were needing high-flow oxygen and the average length of stay was down to three days, he said."
Sir John Bell says disease ‘appears less severe’ as other scientists criticise lack of new restrictions in England
www.theguardian.com
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The Omicron variant of COVID-19 multiplies roughly 70 times faster than the Delta but could lead to less severe infections because of its slow growth in the lungs, researchers found.
A University of Hong Kong study
released Wednesday found the much faster rate of replication in the human bronchus — two tubes from the windpipe to the lungs — began at about 24 hours post-infection.
“In contrast, the Omicron variant replicated less efficiently (more than 10 times lower) in the human lung tissue than the original SARS-CoV-2 virus, which may suggest lower severity of disease,” according to the study."
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So, this strain is much less deadly than the other variants, or even the original...