London – Two vaccine makers have said their vaccination devices protect against the micronized variant of the coronavirus, and data from the UK suggests it may cause fewer hospitalizations than the Delta strain, but public health experts have warned that the battle against Covid-19 has yet to come. It’s over yet.
Similar encouraging signs appeared in South Africa’s hospitalization rates on Wednesday, but the head of Africa’s main health agency echoed the World Health Organization (WHO) in warning that it was too early to draw general conclusions about micron’s virulence.
John Nkengasong, head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said in a statement instructions The media.
Coronavirus infection is spreading in most parts of the world now that the highly contagious Ômicron has spread, which has led to new restrictions being imposed in many countries.
This form was identified last month in South Africa and Hong Kong, and quickly became widespread in most parts of Western Europe, including the United Kingdom, where new infections exceed 100,000 per day.
But the increase in the number of hospitalizations and deaths in South Africa and the United Kingdom since the spread of Ômicron appears to be more gradual. Meanwhile, AstraZeneca and Novavax, as well as other vaccine makers, say their immunization devices protect against the strain.
University of Edinburgh researchers who examined 22,205 Omicron patients on Wednesday said the number of those needing hospitalization was 68% less than they had expected, based on the rate of patients with delta.
Over the past two weeks, researchers at Imperial College London said they had seen evidence of a 40% to 45% lower risk of hospitalization by micron compared to delta.
Scientists have warned that with cases of infection rising in Britain, even a small percentage of hospitalizations could overwhelm the health care system, said Raghib Ali, chief clinical researcher at Cambridge University.
But the British data is encouraging and “may help justify the government’s decision not to extend restrictions on social gatherings during Christmas in England,” he said.
