Although the omicron variant of COVID-19 appears to present itself with less severe infections, it spreads in the human body 70 times faster than previous coronavirus strains, a new study shows.
University of Hong Kong’s LKS Faculty of Medicine’s researchers established that the omicron multiplied in the human bronchus 70 times faster after 24 hours of infection than the delta variant and original coronavirus strain.
Examining the omicron-infected lung tissue removed for treatment, the researchers discovered that the omicron infection in the human lungs is also significantly lower – 10 times lower than the original COVID-19 strain- which may be an indicator of lower severity of the disease.
However, one of the researchers who conducted the study, Dr. Michael Chan Chi-wai of the School of Public Health, noted that the disease transmissibility is not determined only by virus replication.
Chan pointed that the severity of disease in humans depends also on the host immune response to the infection, which may lead to the so-called cytokine storm, which is basically dysregulation of the innate immune system.
He also believes that even if this strain of the virus proves to be less pathogenic, it could cause more severe disease and death exactly due to its highly infectious nature as well as due to its ability to partially escape immunity from vaccines and past infection.
The omicron variant, which was first discovered last month in South Africa and has a high number of mutations, spread to a number of countries across the globe and caused many countries to close their borders as result.
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