A member of the Nervtag advisory group has said Omicron has properties that have “surprised” scientists to some degree - and suggested that Covid is now infecting cells in a different way.
Professor Ravi Gupta told Sky News: “Some experiments that have been done in different groups are suggesting that the virus has kind of altered the way it infects cells.
“This is again potentially due to some mutations that have occurred, and there may, and this is a big caveat, there may be a slightly different profile for this virus [compared to Delta].
“Nonetheless, even if it were a little bit milder, in a very broad sense, the sheer numbers of cases would still translate into some individuals becoming quite sick.
“We’re not anticipating that this virus, because of these changes, is going to suddenly become harmless, I think that shouldn’t be the interpretation of the work that we and others are doing. But what we are saying is that we are learning about the virus all the time.”
He added any conclusions about its pathogenicity may come in the next few weeks.
However, professor Gupta said that while we are in a different situation compared with last year, the increase in deaths and cases of Omicron are still “of great concern”.
He told Sky News: “(This is due to) The sheer numbers that are going to be affected because of the increased transmissibility of this virus (and this) is going to potentially overwhelm our health service. So that’s a really critical situation that we’re facing.”
He added: “Even if the vaccines protect us to a significant degree, then the increased transmissibility and penetration of the virus into communities that we’re seeing already is putting a large amount of pressure (on the NHS) because a very small fraction of a very large number still translates to significant numbers being hospitalised.”
Professor Gupta, a professor of clinical microbiology at the Cambridge Institute for Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Diseases since 2019, said he is “in the middle viewpoint” over whether or not England should take tougher measures to combat the rising case numbers of Omicron.
He told Sky News: “My personal viewpoint is that I’m in the middle of the two sort of views on this. I think the restrictions we’ve had were important.
“I think we could go further, but I’m not necessarily saying that a full lockdown is the essential policy decision, but, of course, I’m not the policy-maker and all I do is do scientific research and advise accordingly.”
For more stories from where you live, visit InYourArea.
