With caution scientists and society continue to view the "onslaught" of the Omicron mutation with caution[/B], as the information and conclusions drawn so far cannot lead to safe predictions about its risk - or otherwise.
Significantly, Paul Barton, chief medical officer of Moderna, warned today that the large number of cases of the new variant "Omicron" in combination with the existing Delta increase the risk of a new super variant. Such a possibility, though rare, can occur when the two strains infect someone at the same time, Barton said, speaking to the Science and Technology Committee.
"There are certainly possibilities," noted Moderna's chief medical officer, adding that studies from South Africa have also been published that say humans - and certainly immunocompromised humans - can harbor both viruses.
"This would be possible to happen in Britain as well given the number of infections we've seen," he said, and when asked if this could lead to a more dangerous variant, he said that "it certainly could."
It is worth noting, however, that similar fears were expressed several months ago when the Delta and Alpha strains were circulating simultaneously, but predictions of the creation of a new hypermutation were not confirmed.[/B]
Worrying predictions about the Omicron onslaught in Britain
At the same time, predictions about the course of the pandemic in Britain are worrying, while the new Omicron mutation is spreading rapidly. At a time when Downing Street has beefed up its "arsenal" with new measures such as teleworking, extending mask use and vaccination certificate display, the government's top health adviser estimates that infections could soar to 1 million a day by the end of December.
Dr Susan Hopkins told the House of Commons that the new mutation is doubling every two or three days in the UK, but the rate of increase in cases of this variant has been rising even more recently, putting additional pressure on the UK health system.
The Old Albion health authorities said 59,610 new infections were recorded in the last 24 hours, the highest number since early January, as the country faces what Prime Minister Boris Johnson described as a "tsunami" of cases of the new variant.
The number of cases is the fifth highest recorded in the UK since the pandemic broke out in March 2020.
The figures also show that 150 deaths were recorded of patients who had tested positive for coronavirus in the past 28 days.
The number of patients admitted to hospitals between December 4-10 was up 10% compared to the week before.
Boris Johnson's staff has stepped up the pace to build a strong wall against the Omicron mutation that is tending to dominate the next wave in Old Alberta. With queues, following the British Prime Minister's dramatic plea for vaccines creating even five-hour queues outside vaccination centres, London's health staff has taken another measure to speed up the process of receiving doses.
As decided, those receiving a Pfizer or Moderna dose will not have to wait 15 minutes at the centre after the dose has been injected.
The move is being made so that more vaccinations are carried out daily and experts believe that those who are vaccinated with an mRNA formulation are not at any risk after the dose.
According to data analysis, the wait by skipping a quarter is reduced at vaccination centres by 23%.
An air of concern has been raised by the Omicron mutation in Britain. In the multi-factor pandemic equation, the new Omicron factor that has been added creates different circumstances. Now, as it turns out, the double vaccination is not enough for protection, making it imperative to get a third dose.
For this reason, Britons are rushing to vaccination centers for the booster dose.
Alarm was raised a few hours ago when Britain's Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, announced at least one death from the Omicron strain.
At the same time, he noted that due to the new variant, hospitalizations have increased, and stressed that "the best thing for people to do is the third dose."
There is good news and it comes from South Africa
In contrast to all the above, encouraging are the findings of the first large study in South Africa on the Omicron mutation, which appears to cause milder disease in patients.
Experts who analyzed 78,000 Omicron cases last month estimated that the risk of hospitalization was 1/5 lower than Delta and 28% lower than the original virus.
Specifically, Omicron currently results in 30% lower hospital admissions than Delta, or 38 admissions per 1,000 cases versus 101 admissions per 1,000 cases.
The findings are close to the conclusion that the highly contagious variant is weaker than previous strains, a theory that doctors in South Africa have been advocating for weeks.
However, according to the Medical Research Council of South Africa, which led the analysis points out that the reduced cases of severe disease are probably not entirely due to the variant being milder. This is because 70% of South Africans have already recovered from coronavirus and 23% are fully vaccinated, which creates high levels of immunity.
The study's findings, however, raise hopes that the surge created by the new mutation will be less severe than previous ones, although the number of illnesses is expected to increase in the coming period.
Pfizer's vaccine 70% effective
Also, the study shows that two doses of Pfizer's vaccine are effective 70% in the potential for severe disease or death, compared with 93% in Delta.[/B] This leaves 30% unprotected, four times more than Delta.
South Africa has been dealing with the Omicron mutation for a month. Admissions are rising at a rate of 141% compared to last week.
A total of 6,198 people are in hospital, compared to 5,562 hospitalised on Sunday, considered the biggest daily increase since the variant emerged. However, despite the increased cases and hospitalizations, there have been just 11 deaths due to coronavirus in the last 24 hours, a marginal increase over the previous week.
Milder symptoms and faster discharges
At the same time, South African doctors claim that Omicron patients go in with milder symptoms and are discharged more quickly. The study was also approved by the doctor in South Africa who first raised the alarm about the new mutation. In particular, he told MPs that it confirmed what doctors are seeing in hospitals.
The head of the Medical Association of South Africa Dr Angelique Coetzee told members of the Parliamentary Committee on Science and Technology that "we don't have all the answers", but the clinical picture so far shows that patients are experiencing milder symptoms with Omicron, particularly vaccinated patients. In hospitals, an 88%-90% of hospitalized patients are unvaccinated. However, it is difficult to specify which patients in hospitals have Omicron or Delta. Importantly, ICUs are not facing huge pressure.
However, experts note that despite the evidence, uncertainties about the new mutation remain, on a significant number of issues, and they await new data to evaluate the variant.
Source: First Theme
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