Omicron causes less severe disease, studies from Scotland, England suggest

Two studies from Scotland and England analyzing rates of hospital treatment for those infected with Omicron suggest the coronavirus variant may cause less severe disease than previous variants, although scientists caution more research is needed.

Early data from Scotland indicates that there is a two-thirds reduction in hospitalization of double vaccinated young adults, compared with the Delta variant. In addition, data from England signals that Omicron infection is associated with a 15 to 20 percent reduced risk in requiring any hospital treatment, compared with Delta.

However, Neil Ferguson, director of the Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College London, cautioned that comparing the Scottish and English data would not be comparing apples with apples since they analyze different groups.

The Scottish data looks at people admitted to hospital, whereas the English data takes in more cases, including people who visit an accident and emergency department for just a few hours of monitoring before going home, he told journalists in a briefing Wednesday.