BANGKOK (NNT) - Medical researchers have indicated that while the Omicron coronavirus variant is unlikely to replace the Delta variant due to genetic differences, it is also expected to be less severe.

 

Dr Anan Jongkaewwattana, director of the Veterinary Health Innovation and Management Research Group unit of the National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC), said Delta is like a sibling to the Alpha and Beta strains. However, this is not the case with the Omicron strain and so someone infected with the Delta variant can still contract the Omicron variant and carry both simultaneously.

 

He added that this year could see vaccines developed to safeguard against both variants through a single shot, similar to seasonal flu vaccines.

 

Dr Chakkarat Pittayawong-anont, director of the epidemiology division at the Department of Disease Control (DDC), meanwhile said he was confident that the Omicron variant would not cause as many critical illnesses as the Delta variant.

 

At its peak, the Delta wave numbered 2,000 critical patients with lung infections per day and 200 daily fatalities.

 

Dr Chakkarat noted, however, that 70% of the population has already been vaccinated and Omicron cases have been shown to be less severe in their symptoms than Delta cases.

 

 

Meanwhile, Dr Kiattiphum Wongrajit, Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Public Health, said Omicron infections should be brought under control within two months depending on public cooperation.

 

The ministry may also consider changing the status of COVID-19 from “pandemic” to “endemic” if rates of severe cases and fatalities see a significant decline. Currently, the fatality rate for Omicron COVID-19 infections remains higher than that of avian flu, at 0.7% versus 0.01%, respectively.

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2022-01-03

 

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Watching the UK news today someone was claiming the omicron variant is no less severe than delta it is just that some many people are now vaccinated and boosted and/or have had covid19 that it appears to be less aggressive?????

with only 47 million people fully vaxed, the mass gatherings at New Year celebrations, the hospitals will burst, because everyone has to go to the hospital if positive...Less severe doesn't mean you will not get sick, maybe you will not die so quickly, and with a lot of people sick the whole country will be derailed..

Quote

I thought Huan-kin was a town in China till I discovered Smirnoff.

Yes, After spending too much time with Mr Smirnoff I often used to call Huan-kin on the Great White Telephone.

2 minutes ago, Muzzique said:

Yes, After spending too much time with Mr Smirnoff I often used to call Huan-kin on the Great White Telephone.

Never had vodka in my life.....no particular reason...odd.

70% vaccinated with one jab? You need 2 or 3 by reports to provide good protection from Omicron. This could be the problem approaching in Thailand. Girlfriend had it and was definitely not a cold according to her, she said "I don't want u get COVID, it not good". One jab Sinovac and one jab AZ about 2 months ago. 

2 minutes ago, Petey11 said:

70% vaccinated with one jab? You need 2 or 3 by reports to provide good protection from Omicron. This could be the problem approaching in Thailand. Girlfriend had it and was definitely not a cold according to her, she said "I don't want u get COVID, it not good". One jab Sinovac and one jab AZ about 2 months ago. 

Same jabs as you, but now had the Pfizer booster. Not too sure Sinovac/AZ is going to be good enough.

22 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

Less severe doesn't mean you will not get sick, maybe you will not die so quickly

Please explain.......

 

28 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

Same jabs as you, but now had the Pfizer booster. Not too sure Sinovac/AZ is going to be good enough.

South Africa was 25% vaccinated and didn’t have a problem with this variant so why would 70% vaccinated Thailand have a problem?   People with no vaccines didn’t have an issue there so unless the Chinese vaccines amplify the severity of this variant why on earth would it be an issue here? 

 

Why do so many people ignore the science and data from South Africa so they can work themselves into a fear frenzy with this?  

1 minute ago, James105 said:

 

South Africa was 25% vaccinated and didn’t have a problem with this variant so why would 70% vaccinated Thailand have a problem?   People with no vaccines didn’t have an issue there so unless the Chinese vaccines amplify the severity of this variant why on earth would it be an issue here? 

 

Why do so many people ignore the science and data from South Africa so they can work themselves into a fear frenzy with this?  

Age profile.

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

Meanwhile, Dr Kiattiphum Wongrajit, Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Public Health, said Omicron infections should be brought under control within two months depending on public cooperation.

Yeah, right! LOL.

58 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

Never had vodka in my life.....no particular reason...odd.

Vodka being merely ethanol (pure alcohol) with some amount of water added to bring it to the correct percentage of alcohol as dictated by the marketing department and local excise regulations, so in a way if you've ever drank any alcoholic drink you have indeed drank 'vodka'.

1 minute ago, ukrules said:

Vodka being merely ethanol (pure alcohol) with some amount of water added to bring it to the correct percentage of alcohol as dictated by the marketing department and local excise regulations, so in a way if you've ever drank any alcoholic drink you have indeed drank 'vodka'.

....Lagavulin ......hard to think of that as just being vodka...555

14 minutes ago, James105 said:

South Africa was 25% vaccinated and didn’t have a problem with this variant so why would 70% vaccinated Thailand have a problem

As Will B Good stated age profile.  It is also my understanding that there was a lot of prior COVID in South Africa which built up some natural immunity.  I think SA also had some more effective vaccines.  But you may be right and have a valid point.  Time will tell.

Just for a possible comparison on what it may be like here in Thailand, here's a balanced and honest update on the state of the NHS hospitals and care homes by there CEO, some positive news and indications that they will pull through this without further restrictions but extreme pressure still on with rising cases and lots of staff absences due to Omicron which makes existing staff have to work even harder.

 

Here is his summary after a 25 thread long tweet, lots of good information on there well worth reading the full string of tweets from today 3rd Jan

 

"SUMMARY Rest of country now under pressure. Some trusts declaring critical incidents to manage staff absences. Recent London data, fact that London/NHS currently "coping" & absence of large nos. of seriously ill offer grounds for optimism. But future still uncertain. 25/25"

 

https://twitter.com/ChrisCEOHopson/status/1477941212648808451

 

3 minutes ago, koratkarlos said:

As Will B Good stated age profile.  It is also my understanding that there was a lot of prior COVID in South Africa which built up some natural immunity.  I think SA also had some more effective vaccines.  But you may be right and have a valid point.  Time will tell.

Indeed the other factor was previous infections which while not stopping them get the virus did help in reducing serious illness and death

1 hour ago, Will B Good said:

Never had vodka in my life.....no particular reason...odd.

Is it pointless comments like this that got you nearly 2,300 in 5 months?

Sorry, but some people just fill threads up, off topic.

3 minutes ago, 2long said:

Is it pointless comments like this that got you nearly 2,300 in 5 months?

Sorry, but some people just fill threads up, off topic.

Is it pointless comments like this that results in you having no friends?

Sorry, but some people just fill threads up, off topic.

I wonder what the medical researchers of the "Veterinary Health Innovation and Management Research Group unit of the National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC)" actually do.  I suspect sit watching fayboo all day waiting for Dr Yong.  Does he even have a dog?

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

Medical researchers have indicated that while the Omicron coronavirus variant is unlikely to replace the Delta variant due to genetic differences

Yet elsewhere around the world this is exactly what's happening.

 

For some reason everyone is becoming infected with Omicron and by some unknown mechanism this is stopping the spread of Delta.

 

I believe it's due to immunity between the  common viruses.

 

One thing did strike me though, Delta does appear to avoid whatever hurdle was in place during the 2020 strain spread in Thailand, we don't know if this is the case with Omicron as it did not evolve from Delta at all.

 

Personally  I suspected the high temperature and humidity combination did a lot to slow down the original covid variants during 2020, that situation only seemed to change when Delta came along in 2021. With Omicron I wonder if the temperature and humidity will again play a factor in delaying the spread of Omicron. If it does then there are some not so great scenarios that I can think of, like the tropical regions of the world becoming a human reservoir for Delta.

 

One thing's for sure - if they don't 'allow' Omicron to spread around then it definitely won't replace Delta.

German RKI from Dec 30, page 14:

 

Additional information is known to some extent for the Omikron cases in the reporting system.
For 6788 cases symptoms are reported. Mostly none or mild ones. The most common were:
cold (54%)
cough (57%)
sore throat (39%)

 

Also interesting:
124 people were hospitaized
4 people died
148 re-enfected

 

and (I know, to be deleted. "misinformation, "troll post" etc):
out of the 6788 
4026 were double vaccinated
1137 of them had already a "booster"
186 were not vaccinated

 

(links in German language are not allowed)

2 hours ago, Will B Good said:

Watching the UK news today someone was claiming the omicron variant is no less severe than delta it is just that some many people are now vaccinated and boosted and/or have had covid19 that it appears to be less aggressive?????

Apparently it is an upper respiratory tract infection and therefore less likely to infect and damage the lungs. Unlike the delta variant it shouldn't result in hospitals being rammed with people with breathing difficulties. 

2 hours ago, James105 said:

do so many people ignore the science and data from South Africa so they can work themselves into a fear frenzy with this?

Research more. 

Embarrassing post. 

3 hours ago, Will B Good said:

Watching the UK news today someone was claiming the omicron variant is no less severe than delta it is just that some many people are now vaccinated and boosted and/or have had covid19 that it appears to be less aggressive?????

The covid news in my newsfeed was pretty sparse this week.  When the numbers were shooting up, it was all over the place, then suddenly it went very quiet.  I wonder if maybe there are signs of improvement or of Omicron being milder, but MSM chose not to report it very much.

2 hours ago, ukrules said:

Vodka being merely ethanol (pure alcohol) with some amount of water added to bring it to the correct percentage of alcohol as dictated by the marketing department and local excise regulations, so in a way if you've ever drank any alcoholic drink you have indeed drank 'vodka'.

And Gin is the same as vodka with aromatics added. The original being Juniper berries???

4 hours ago, Will B Good said:

Age profile.

You don't have a single clue what you are talking about.  

1 hour ago, BangkokReady said:

The covid news in my newsfeed was pretty sparse this week.  When the numbers were shooting up, it was all over the place, then suddenly it went very quiet.  I wonder if maybe there are signs of improvement or of Omicron being milder, but MSM chose not to report it very much.

Because COVID has changed from a dangerous lung disease to a three day cold.  The only people who get in trouble are unvaccinated.  This is widely reported.  It's only the sheer numbers that are worrying.

When the rate starts dropping you will see restrictions ease big time.  

Thailand will get hit, make no mistake.  You probably are, the amount that have no symptoms is staggering.  

5 hours ago, James105 said:

 

South Africa was 25% vaccinated and didn’t have a problem with this variant so why would 70% vaccinated Thailand have a problem?   People with no vaccines didn’t have an issue there so unless the Chinese vaccines amplify the severity of this variant why on earth would it be an issue here? 

 

Why do so many people ignore the science and data from South Africa so they can work themselves into a fear frenzy with this?  

Africans are not as impacted by Covid as Europeans and Asians. 

 

If Covid had hit Africa first in early 2020, you would have thought it was just the flu. 

3 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

The covid news in my newsfeed was pretty sparse this week.  When the numbers were shooting up, it was all over the place, then suddenly it went very quiet.  I wonder if maybe there are signs of improvement or of Omicron being milder, but MSM chose not to report it very much.

Holidays and weekends. 

Anyone know the death rate for omicron?  Specifically died of omicron, not with.

 

Is it less than .1% for healthy people?