A Blog by Jonathan Low

 

Dec 19, 2021

Is There Any Good News About Omicron?

Why yes, there is quite a bit of good news about Omicron, starting with the fact that we know much more about Covid generally and that we have vaccines that work against it. 

In addition, there are now anti-viral drugs available which make it less severe, the data from South Africa suggest that the wave Omicron caused is shorter and milder, and that it is less efficient at spreading to the lungs, which is part of what makes it less deadly. JL

Robin McKie reports in The Guardian:

Anti-viral drugs help reduce the burden of Covid-19 and have a knock-on effect on health services as well. (These) drugs reduce the amount of virus produced in the body after infection and lessen the chance that patients will need hospital treatment. South African case numbers have peaked, while early indications suggest deaths could be lower than for previous waves. The country is experiencing a relatively brief wave of milder infections. (And) people recover more quickly from Omicron compared with Delta, whether they were in hospital or not. Although Omicron is more efficient reproducing in the upper respiratory tract, it is far less efficient in spreading in the lungs where it would pose the greatest danger

It’s hard to find much good news among the waves of grim statistics that have washed over the nation since the emergence of Omicron.

Once again, the NHS is threatened and again, the prospect of a new year lockdown looms. We seem to have gained nothing in the battle against Covid-19 during the past 12 months.

Such an interpretation is harsh, however. Yes, we are again facing a serious medical crisis, but a number of factors suggest there may be some ground for a little optimism, though scientists are careful to add the key caveat that we are only at the beginning of our dealings with the Omicron variant.

Anti-viral drugs

Over the past year, a number of anti-viral drugs, such as Xevudy (sotrovimab) and Lagevrio (molnupiravir), have been shown to ward off serious illness and have been earmarked in the UK for vulnerable people – those being treated for cancer, for example – who subsequently become ill with Covid-19. Both drugs reduce the amount of virus produced in the body after infection and lessen the chance that patients will need hospital treatment.

“Those most at risk, such as cancer patients, are the most likely to need health service care, so with this new, highly infectious strain, these drugs should help reduce the burden of Covid-19 on that population and have a knock-on effect on the health service as well,” said Professor Penny Ward of King’s College, London. “On top of booster vaccines, these drugs will provide important additional protection for those who are most at risk.”

South Africa

Omicron was first pinpointed in South Africa, which then experienced a very rapid rise in numbers of Covid-19 cases. But now these case numbers appear to have peaked, while early indications also suggest that deaths could be lower than they have been for previous waves. Thus, the country is experiencing a relatively brief wave of milder infections. Health officials have also reported that people appear to recover more quickly from Omicron compared with Delta, whether they were in hospital or not.

It remains to be seen whether these figures mean Omicron produces milder illness than previous variants in other countries, including the UK. Nevertheless it remains a possibility with some scientists expressing quiet optimism, though others are more cautious.

“In South Africa, they had a very large wave of Delta only a few months ago, so they are likely to have a fair amount of immunity lingering in the population and that could be providing protection,” said Lance Turtle, senior clinical lecturer in infectious diseases at Liverpool University. “In the UK, our protection might have begun to weaken, so we might see more serious cases.”

This point was also made by the government’s scientific advisers, Sage. “Even if there were to be a modest reduction in severity compared to Delta, very high numbers of infections would still lead to significant pressure on hospitals,” it noted in minutes for its meeting last Thursday.

However, Professor Martin Hibberd, of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, was still optimistic. “We are in a better position than a year ago, as most people have now had at least some vaccine, or previous infection, which may help to reduce the severity experienced by many people.”

From the laboratory
What do we know about the new Covid variant?

A third piece of hopeful news is that scientists have uncovered a possible biological explanation for Omicron’s apparent reduced severity. This work was carried out by Michael Chan Chi-wai at the University of Hong Kong who found that although the new variant is much more efficient, compared with Delta, in reproducing in the upper respiratory tract, where it can be coughed out onto others, it is far less efficient in spreading in the lungs where it would pose the greatest danger to an infected person.

In this way, the variant may spread between individuals far more quickly but not reach more vulnerable parts of their anatomies. This would reduce the severity of illness it can trigger.

However, Chan has counselled caution in interpreting the implications of his work. “By infecting many more people, a very infectious virus may cause more severe disease and death, even though the virus itself may be less pathogenic,” he said. “The overall threat from Omicron variant is likely to be very significant.”

1 comments:

FIRMWARE HACKS said...

INTERNET SCAM ALERT‼️

The internet today is full of SCAM ADS, mostly in comments of various sites and blogs. A large number of individuals have been victims of scam and lost a lot of money to SCAMMERS. Most of the common scam you can see are -:
❌BANK LOAN SCAM. ❌BINARY OPTIONS SCAM.
❌MONEY MULTIPLICATION SCAM. ❌HACKING SCAM. ❌GETTING DEGREE SCAM. ❌SHOPPING SCAM and lost more..........

But here is a good news to everyone who has been a victim of INTERNET SCAM❗️
You can get your money back from the scammer, and can even get more than what you lost, No Authorities will not been involve just the genius of our skill.

WHO ARE WE⁉️
We are FIRMWARE !A group of skilled Hackers who have dedicated our time to helping individuals to get back thier money from INTERNET SCAMMERS. A research was carried out and an approximation of more than $3billion USD annually was said to be lost to INTERNET SCAM. This is so wrong and that’s why we have decided to help individuals get thier money.

HOW DO WE OPERATE⁉️
We use a RAT(Remote Access Trojan) to take over the SCAMMER(s) device(Phone or Computer) and take back your money by accessing their Bitcoin wallets or Bank Account. Most of this scammers use their Bitcoin to save money they get from SCAM activities. This is because Bitcoin keeps the money hidden from FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS BOARD from getting to see the money they can’t give account for.

If you have been a Victim of INTERNET SCAM, then you should contact us via the Email below



Email-: firmwarehacks@gmail.con
firmwarehacks@gmail.com




GET THE BEST HACKING SERVICE‼️
Motto-: Hacking Just Got Easier

Here Are List Of Hacking Services We Offer-:

▪️Phone Hacking & Cloning

▪️Email Hacking

▪️Social Media Hacking(Facebook, Instagram e.t.c)

▪️Computer Hacking

▪️Deleted Files & Documents Recovery

▪️Breach Detection

▪️Website Hacking

▪️Tracking using GPS and Spyware

▪️Deleted Mails and Text messages Recovery

OTHER SPECIAL HACKING SERVICES

▪️Binary Option Recovery

▪️Scam Money Recovery

▪️Bitcoin Multiplication

▪️Change Of Grades In Universities/Colleges

▪️Phone Calls Monitoring

▪️And lots more...........
“AS LONG AS ITS TECHNOLOGY IT WILL BE HACKED ”

For more enquire, contact us via the emails below
firmwarehacks@gmail.com
firmwarehacks@gmail.com

Firmware
2021© All Right Reserved.

Post a Comment