Omicron variant cases soar around world, but still there’s a catch    

Although the number of Omicron cases has witnessed huge spike, there is actually a lot more than meets the eye.   

The new variant of coronavirus has caused numerous illnesses but the severity is not too high and there seems to have been less hospitalisations, said some new studies.  

The data accumulated till now shows this may be not the worse part of the pandemic.  

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Monica Gandhi, immunologist, University of California, San Francisco, said, "We're now in a totally different phase. The virus is always going to be with us, but my hope is this variant causes so much immunity that it will quell the pandemic." 

Still, there is still plenty of time for the situation to change, said the experts.   

In a study in South Africa, the patients in the Omicron-dominated fourth wave were 73% less likely to be severe than patients in Delta-dominated third wave.   

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Wendy Burgers, immunologist, University of Cape Town, said "The data is quite solid now that hospitalisations and cases are decoupled."  

What makes it less severe is that this variant does not infect the lungs as easily as previous variants.   

(With inputs from agencies)