Dire warnings about new variant looking increasingly alarmist.
Out of the 44 confirmed cases of the Omicron variant discovered in Europe, all of them are “asymptomatic or people with mild symptoms,” according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
The ECDC released a statement earlier today declaring, “So far, no severe cases or deaths have been reported among these cases.”
Alarmists have attempted to cite South Africa’s relatively young population (average age 27) in an effort to dismiss findings by health chiefs that cases there have only been “mild.”
However, given that a similar pattern has now been observed on a different continent, that argument is losing credibility.
Despite concerns that the variant could be more harmful to the elderly, some have asserted that booster jabs need to be pushed for 18-year-olds, an argument that also makes no sense.
Numerous countries across the world have imposed new restrictions based on initial warnings that the new variant could be worse than delta, including in England where masks have been made compulsory in numerous public settings.
Dr Jenny Harries, the current head of NHS Test and Trace, also seized on the new variant to urge Brits to stop socialising over Christmas.
As we highlighted earlier, University of Oxford Professor Jim Naismith asserted that despite England dropping its mask mandate in July and Scotland keeping its rules in force, official data shows this “has made no meaningful difference” to infection rates.
“In both countries very high levels of prevalence have continued for months. Thus the new changes announced are unlikely to have much of an impact if Omicron does indeed spread rapidly,” he added.
