According to a study published in The Lancet journal, the Omicron version of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is less likely to cause long-term COVID than the delta strain.
The researchers said that prolonged COVID is defined as new or ongoing symptoms four weeks or more after the onset of the disease.
Symptoms include fatigue, shortness of breath, loss of concentration and joint pain, which can adversely affect day-to-day activities and in some cases can be severely limited, he said.
The researchers found that those during the Omicron period versus the delta period were 20–50 percent less likely to experience prolonged COVID, depending on age and time since vaccination.
Study lead author Claire Steves from King’s College London said: “The Omicron variant is significantly less likely to cause long-term COVID-19 than previous variants, but still catch COVID-19.” Symptoms last more than four weeks in 1 in 23 people with diabetes. Britain.
The study identified 56,003 UK adult cases who had previously tested positive between 20 December 2021 and 9 March 2022, when Omicron was the dominant strain.
The researchers compared these cases to 41,361 cases that first tested positive between June 1, 2021, and November 27, 2021, when the delta variant was dominant.
The analysis shows that 4.4 percent of Omicron cases were long-term COVID, compared to Delta’s 10.8 percent of cases.
However, the absolute number of people experiencing long-term COVID was actually higher in the omicron period, the researchers said.
He said this was due to the large number of people infected with Omicron from December 2021 to February 2022.
The UK Office of National Statistics estimated that the number of people with chronic COVID-19 actually increased from 1.3 million in January 2022 to 2 million by May 1, 2022.
“Given the number of people affected it is important that we continue to support them at work, at home and within the NHS,” Steves said.