A Professor has warned that Omicron is spreading so fast that people are “very likely” to meet a person who is infected with the new variant unless they are “living the life of a hermit.”
Professor Eleanor Riley of immunology and infectious disease warned that “a lot of people” may end up in hospital even if the virus mutation does have milder symptoms than the Delta.
The University of Edinburgh academic told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, “Omicron is spreading so quickly that, I think, unless you are living the life of a hermit, you are very likely to come across it in the next few weeks.
“I don’t think anyone should be going around thinking they are not going to catch it, I think that situation has changed.”
She added, “There is a huge ‘if’ about this, ‘is it milder?’
“I think it is very dangerous to compare data from South Africa, say, to the UK. Even if it is milder and, therefore, a smaller proportion of infected people end up in hospital, given that so many people are going to come across this virus, even a small proportion of a lot of people is a lot of people in hospital.”
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