The omicron strain of Covid-19 is at least 40% more lethal than seasonal flu, according to Japanese scientists, Bloomberg reported. The study underscored the potential danger of lifting covid pandemic curbs too quickly and underestimating the virus’s ongoing health risks. However, the study hasn’t been peer-reviewed or published in a medical journal.
According to a report in Bloomberg, the case fatality rate of omicron in Japan, based on cumulative excess deaths and the number of infections since January, was about 0.13%, according to an analysis by scientists who advise the country’s health minister. While that is significantly lower than the 4.25% case fatality rate from earlier in the outbreak, it’s still higher than the 0.006% to 0.09% seen with seasonal flu, they said.
From mask mandates to testing requirements, and pushing for a return to normal life, countries across the globe have been lifting curbs.
Australia was fully open to vaccinated travellers after Western Australia today became the last state to lift border restrictions. Western Australia, which covers one-third of the nation’s land area, closed its borders to most international and interstate travellers in 2020 to slow the spread of COVID-19. But the state lifted restrictions four months after Sydney began its staged reopening of quarantine-free travel and more than a week after all vaccinated tourists became eligible for visas.
Wearing face masks have been widely considered an important first-line defence against the novel coronavirus. Like many other viruses, COVID-19 too is transmitted primarily via particles carried in the air. An infected person breathes out particles containing the virus into the air, which can then be inhaled by another person, who then becomes infected.
People suffering from COVID-19 may have several variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus hidden away from the immune system in different parts of the body, according to the findings of two studies.
An international team led by researchers from the University of Bristol, UK, and Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Germany noted that this may make complete clearance of the virus from the body of the infected person much more difficult.
The studies, published in the journal Nature Communications, demonstrates how the virus can evolve distinctly in different cell types, and adapt its immunity, in the same infected host.
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