SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants BA.1 and BA.2 both show similarly reduced disease severity of COVID-19 compared to Delta, Germany, 2021 to 2022.

Abstract

German national surveillance data analysis shows that hospitalisation odds associated with Omicron lineage BA.1 or BA.2 infections are up to 80% lower than with Delta infection, primarily in ≥ 35-year-olds. Hospitalised vaccinated Omicron cases' proportions (2.3% for both lineages) seemed lower than those of the unvaccinated (4.4% for both lineages). Independent of vaccination status, the hospitalisation frequency among cases with Delta seemed nearly threefold higher (8.3%) than with Omicron (3.0% for both lineages), suggesting that Omicron inherently causes less severe disease.

• Authors: Claudia Sievers, Benedikt Zacher, Alexander Ullrich, Matthew Huska, Stephan Fuchs, Silke Buda, Walter Haas, Michaela Diercke, Matthias An der Heiden, Stefan Kröger
• Journal: Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin (Euro Surveill) Vol. 27 Issue 22 (06 2022) ISSN: 1560-7917 [Electronic] Sweden
• PMID: 35656831 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Topics

• COVID-19
• Germany (epidemiology)
• Humans
• SARS-CoV-2 (genetics)
• Severity of Illness Index