Omicron grows 70 times faster than Delta in bronchial tissue
pharmafile | December 16, 2021 | News story | Business Services |
The COVID-19 variant, Omicron, has been found to replicate around 70 times faster than the original and Delta variants of coronavirus in tissue samples taken from the bronchus, in research undertaken by a team from the University of Hong Kong. The results of this research may help to explain the rapid transmission of the variant.
The bronchus are the main tubes from the windpipe to the lungs. The virus was, however, seen to replicate less rapidly than the original strain of the virus in human lung tissue, potentially indicating a lower severity of the disease. The study was published by the LKS Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed).
Dr Michael Chan Chi-wai, the professor who lead the research, warned that it was important to note that “by infecting many more people, a very infectious virus may cause more severe disease and death even though the virus itself may be less pathogenic.”
“It is also noted that by infecting many more people, a very infectious virus may cause more severe disease and death even though the virus itself may be less pathogenic,” Dr Michael Chan Chi-wai shared. “Therefore, taken together with our recent studies showing that the Omicron variant can partially escape immunity from vaccines and past infection, the overall threat from the Omicron variant is likely to be very significant.”
The news arrives as France announce the ban of travellers to and from Britain, from 18 December, “without compelling reasons” to enter either country. Britain’s Omicron R number is estimated to be between three and five, officials have revealed. A single person infected with the new COVID-19 variant will go on to infect between three and five other people, on average.
Ana Ovey
