LONDON (BLOOMBERG) - A previous Covid-19 recovery provides little shield
against infection with the Omicron variant, a research team from Imperial
College London showed in a large study that underlines the importance of
booster shots.

Having had Covid-19 probably offers only 19 per cent protection against
Omicron, the study showed on Friday (Dec 17). That was roughly in line
with two doses of vaccine, which the team estimated were as much as 20 per
cent effective against Omicron.

Adding a booster dose helped dramatically, blocking an estimated 55 per
cent to 80 per cent of symptomatic cases.

https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/uk-study-finds-no-evidence-omicron-cases-are-less-severe-than-delta

The Imperial College London team analysed all the polymerase chain
reaction test-confirmed Covid-19 cases in England between Nov 29 and Dec
11, making it one of the most expansive examinations yet of Omicron's
potential to evade the body's defences.

The results were in line with the picture emerging of the variant's
capacity to elude protection from previous infection or inoculation and
spread faster than previous iterations of the virus.

There was no evidence of Omicron cases being less severe than Delta, based
on the proportion of people testing positive who had symptoms or went to
the hospital, the team said. Just how severe Omicron cases will be remains
unclear. It is too soon to say how hospitalisations will play out in the
UK.

In South Africa, which announced the discovery of the variant on Nov 25,
the authorities said on Friday that the rate of hospitalisations seems to
be lower than during the country's earlier wave of Delta infections.

Europe is bracing for an Omicron-driven fifth wave of infections even as
intensive care units in many areas remain filled with patients sick with
the Delta variant.

Some governments are already imposing new measures in an effort to slow
the Omicron wave and buy time for booster campaigns to gear up.

The proportion of Omicron among all Covid-19 cases was probably doubling
every two days up to Dec 11, the UK team said, estimating that every
person infected with the variant passed it on to more than three other
people.

### - geez, so have they perhaps just been lying to us until now
suggesting omicron might be milder??

wouldn't surprise moi in the slightest is that's true, *playing/talking it
all down* if/when facing a catastrophe being a very standard tactic when
it comes to managing/manipulating the mind/mood of the mob... keeps 'em
all confused & unsure etc, see, and then they'll do what they're
told/directed to do while being slowly drip-fed about the true reality of
the situation...

accumulating death-rates + the gold index prolly telling us the real story
quicker tho...

best batten down the hatches folks, looks like there's a storm a-brewing!