People who have the Omicron variant tend to have symptoms for a shorter period of time, a lower risk of being hospitalized, and a different set of symptoms from those with Delta, new research suggests.
The study, which will be presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases and published in The Lancet, is based on data from 63,002 study participants Zoe Covid.
The researchers compared nearly 4,990 participants who had a confirmed Covid infection between June 1 and November 27, 2021 - when Delta was the most prevalent variant - to the 4,990 individuals who reported an infection between December 20, 2021 and January 17, 2022 when Omicron dominated, matching age , gender and whether they had received two or three doses of vaccine. The experiences of the two groups were then compared.
The team found that participants' symptoms lasted an average of 6.9 days during the period dominated by Omicron, compared to 8.9 days when Delta dominated. During Omicron's time, people were 25% less likely to be hospitalized.
According to the data, only 17% of people who had Covid when Omicron dominated lost their sense of smell, compared to 53% when Delta dominated. Sore throat and hoarseness were the most common symptoms in the case of Omicron.
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