“Omicron has exploded”: the results of the “flash survey” which will have to guide the government’s decisions
In Italy, the new variant of the coronavirus already accounts for almost 30 percent of infections, one hundred times the figure of just two weeks ago, between 0.2 and 0.3 percent. It is the result of the “flash survey”, the survey that will have to guide the decisions of today’s control room, in which the government will have to approve countermeasures to the rapid advance of the omicron variant.
An acceleration already seen in other countries, which could lead omicron to become the prevailing variant already by the end of the year, exceeding the 50 percent threshold. “Omicron has exploded,” the health ministry commented in the report, according to reports The Republic.
According to estimates by the Higher Institute of Health, elaborated on the swabs analyzed by the regions last Monday, the prevalence of omicron is more than 25 percent and could already be close to 30 percent. In Lombardy, one of the regions currently most affected by the virus, omicron has already exceeded 30 percent of cases, with greater circulation in the northwestern part of the region. In Lazio, however, the figure would still be around 15 percent.
Since it emerged in South Africa and Botswana in November, omicron has worried among experts about the extreme rapidity with which it spreads and the ability to reinfect even those who have already been infected with Covid-19. According to the World Health Organization, the time in which the number of omicron cases doubles can reach 1.5 days, compared to about two weeks for the delta variant, while according to a study by Imperial College London, it assesses the risk of reinfection is 5.4 times higher than in the delta.
In the past few hours, Imperial College has also found that the variant has a “moderate reduction” in the risk of hospitalization compared to delta, with a 40-45% lower chance of being hospitalized after a visit to the hospital. Despite the lesser apparent gravity of the variant, the speed with which it spreads still risks leading to a rapid increase in hospitalizations and serious difficulties for the health system, as occurred in the United Kingdom, where, according to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the “situation omicron is extremely difficult ”. “Cases of Omicron are on the rise across the country now and hospital admissions are increasing rather rapidly in London,” said Johnson, who has accelerated the campaign for the third dose in the past.
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