Immunologist: Omicron Is Not Too Severe

London, MINA – A leading immunologist in the UK said the new variant of Covid-19 omicron is not the same as delta and this new strain does not appear to be too severe.

Sir John Bell, a professor regius at the University of Oxford and a life sciences adviser to the government, said despite an increase in the number of cases and hospitalizations, the length of stay was shorter than in previous mutations.

“Omicron is not the same disease we saw a year ago,” Bell said as quoted by Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.

The senior scientist also said the death toll from the omicron variant remained low and fewer patients needed high-flow oxygen.

Despite Bell’s statement, many scholars criticized the government’s failure to enforce stricter restrictions.

They argue that while omicron does not appear to be particularly severe, it is still highly contagious and without government intervention the UK’s national health service could face difficulties due to the sheer number of patients.

As quoted from CNN, the UK reported a new daily record of positive Covid-19 cases due to the spread of the Omicron variant. There has been a spike in positive cases of the coronavirus in the last seven days.

Model data from the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggest that 1 in 20 Britons may have been infected with Covid-19. However, this data was later revised to 1 in 10 people are likely to be infected with the virus.

Government data showed there were at least 122,186 new cases, higher than the previous record of 119,789 as of Thursday. This indicates, the UK has been hit by 100,000 new Covid-19 cases for the third day in a row. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)