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Scientists Believe Omicron Could Be Covid-19 ‘s Achilles Heel

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Scientists Say Covid-19 is Here to Stay But with Less Severe Symptoms

There is a general consensus among scientists that Covid-19 will stay with us this year, but it will have less severe symptoms than earlier types of the virus. Scientists believe this is because the virus needs to keep the host from dying.

Many countries in Europe, the United States and elsewhere are experiencing an increase in daily infections caused by the Omicron variant. Over 1.7 million people are believed to be infected with the Omicron strain in the United Kingdom alone. Despite this, more evidence has shown that the most recent variant seems to cause less severe illness than its viral predecessors.

Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health studied 100 cases of Omicron infection. In this study, 48% of the patients were asymptomatic, 41% were ill, and 11% were collecting more information.

Of the 100 infected patients, 34 show mild symptoms without lung infection. There are only seven patients with lung infections, but none require life support.

In addition to coughing (54%), a sore throat (37%), fever (29%), muscle pain (15%), runny nose (12%), headache (10%), difficulty breathing (5%) and lost sense of smell (2%), the study also identified some other symptoms of illness.

Covid-19 may become the new flu

Omicron is not likely to replace the Delta variant of covid-19 because it is rather different genetically than Delta, says Dr Anan Jongkaewwattana. He is director of the Veterinary Health Innovation and Management Research Group at Biotec.

Alpha and Beta are like brothers to Delta, he said. The host can be infected by both the Delta and Omicron covid-19 variants at the same time, meaning both can be present at the same time.

The world will have both Delta and Omicron covid-19 strains, just as there are many forms of the avian flu today. This year, there may be a vaccine against Delta and Omicron strains in one shot, such as the flu vaccine.

It is inevitable that the virus will mutate. Symptoms will no longer be dangerous if the virus only alters its protein spike. Vaccine development may also be sped up, he said.

After the New Year, the Ministry of Public Health released its worst-case scenario of Covid-19 Omicron infections, which estimated that daily infections could reach 30,000 cases per day, with 170–180 deaths per day if universal prevention practices are not followed.

As early as late January, the country may record 10,000 new covid-19 infections, with 60–70 deaths a day; however, in the most severe case, it may register 15,000–16,000 new cases per day.

Omicron produces less critical conditions

Director of the Department of Disease Control’s epidemiology division, Chakkarat Pittayawong-anont, is confident that Omicron, unlike Delta, will not result in large numbers of critically ill patients, unlike Delta, when the death toll from critical lung infections peaked at over 200 per day at its peak.

In any case, Omicron produces less critical conditions anyway since 70% of the population has already been vaccinated against the covid-19 coronavirus.

According to him, this year will be another challenging year for public health officials since, as people grow weary of the virus, they may not pay as much attention to health prevention.

In addition, they hold large gatherings more often, which increases the risk of contracting the disease.

He added, “We need effective cooperation from the public. People cannot relax too much because the disease is still active.”

Vaccinations still important

In addition, he expressed concern about those who have not been immunized, noting that the number of vaccine recipients seems to be stabilizing. Those who are not vaccinated are at a high risk of contracting the disease. An outbreak of Omicron might be an opportunity to convince them to get vaccinated.

According to the ministry’s permanent secretary, Dr Kiattiphum Wongrajit, the Omicron-led outbreak should be under control within two months if people cooperate.

The ministry would review whether Covid-19’s status should change from pandemic to endemic if severe cases and death tolls drastically decline. Nevertheless, that day seems far away since Omicron is still causing a high death toll of 0.7% when compared to avian flu, which is only 0.01%.

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