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Omicron Hits Hard Around the World, but Studies Shows Not to be as Severe

INTERNATIONAL: The United States, European countries and Japan saw record highs in COVID-19 indicators as the Omicron variant has continued to spread during holiday season.

While the record high increase of infections have made all citizens around the world scared of what could come next, studies have shown that Omicron by not be as severe as initially thought.

The United States has set several new records in COVID-19 indicators. Several European countries have seen record COVID infections in the post-Christmas days.

The weekly increase of cases has registered a new pandemic high. Over the past week, over 2,700,000 new cases and more than 9,000 new deaths were added to the tallies, surpassing the previous record set in the first week of 2021, according to Johns Hopkins University on Friday.

The seven-day average of daily cases also marked a new high. The country is averaging about 320,000 new cases daily, according to data updated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The Omicron-fueled surge in the United States has also let the number of children hospitalized with COVID-19 soar to a record high.

On New Year's Day, England has reported another 162,572 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period. The UK Health Security Agency said that more than 90 percent of community infections of COVID-19 cases in England are Omicron variant.

The same day, on the other side of the English Channel, France reported up to 220,000 new cases in the past 24 hours, and the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases in France surpassed the 10 million mark. It is the fourth consecutive day that France reported a daily count of over 200,000 COVID-19 cases.

Italy also saw an increase in COVID-19 cases. The country reported more than 140,000 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours. Italian health officials haver reported the number of Omicron infections is currently increasing rapidly in the country.

On Saturday, Japan registered 535 new COVID-19 infections, with 79 being reported in Tokyo. It is the third consecutive day that Japan has reported a daily count over 500, and the second consecutive day that Tokyo's new infections surpassed 70.

On the same day, U.S. military bases in Japan's southern prefecture of Okinawa reported a record 235 new COVID-19 cases. The Okinawa government has said it is still unclear whether the cases from the U.S. military bases are the Omicron variant.

The idea that Omicron may be a milder variant of Covid-19 seems to be supported by six new studies that emerged since December 24. According to researches, the Omicron variant seems more likely to infect the throat than the lungs which appears to make to more infectious but less deadly. The thought that Omicron may be less deadly compared to previous variants, especially the Delta variant, was suggested by a UK study. The results of the research have yet to undergo peer-reviewed by fellow scientists to verify it.

A professor of virology at University College London, Deenan Pillay has said, “The result of all the mutations that make Omicron different from previous variants is that it may have altered its ability to infect different cells. In what appears to be more able to infect the upper respiratory tract – cells in the throat. As consequence it would multiply in cells there more readily than in cells deep in the lung. this is really preliminary but the studies point in the same direction.”

American and Japanese seem to suggest that this variant of the virus causes less damage to the lungs, which makes it less deadly. Hamster and mice infected by the variant during the studies experienced less lung damage, as well as loss of weight, and their chances of surviving is noticeably higher than other variants.

According to studies, Omicron mainly infects the upper respiratory tracts -the throat- than the lungs. Animal studies also seem to suggest that people may possibly recover faster from this strain compared to other variants. According to the professor animals recovered faster. Aside from the UK, American, and Japanese studies, a paper published by researches from the University of Hong Kong also suggests the same findings.

A slew of research has been conducted to verify the severity of Omicron due to its boosted transmissibility. Despite results from the research and earlier conjectures, health officials are still pushing for caution because a mass infection of this variant may lead to the emergence of another and potentially deadlier than any of the previous variants.

Only time will tell the actual situation of the variant and its severity.


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