Omicron spreading faster but killing fewer patients, says virologist
THE NATION
Though far more people are getting infected by the Omicron variant when compared to Delta, the death rate is far lower, leading virologist Yong Poovorawan said in a Facebook post on Saturday.
He said data collected from infections confirmed via RT-PCR tests shows that the rate of deaths from Omicron has dropped to 0.2 per cent.
This estimate is based on the fact that the number of confirmed Omicron cases is far higher than when the Delta variant was spreading in the country.
He also said that it takes far longer for patients to succumb to Omicron, which is keeping the number of deaths low.
Yong also pointed out that most of the deaths involved vulnerable people, so they should be provided with extra care and strict prevention measures should be put in place to curb the spread of the virus.
