(Reuters) – The threat of reinfection with the Omicron coronavirus variant is more than five times greater and it has proven no signal of being milder than Delta, a study by Imperial College London confirmed, as instances soar throughout Europe and threaten year-end festivities.

The outcomes have been based mostly on UK Health Security Agency and National Health Service knowledge on individuals who examined constructive for COVID-19 in a PCR check in England between Nov. 29 and Dec. 11.

“We discover no proof (for each threat of hospitalisation attendance and symptom standing) of Omicron having totally different severity from Delta,” the study stated, though it famous that knowledge on hospitalisations stays very restricted.

“Controlling for vaccine standing, age, intercourse, ethnicity, asymptomatic standing, area and specimen date, Omicron was related to a 5.4-fold greater threat of reinfection in contrast with Delta,” the study, which was dated Dec. 16, added.

“This implies that the safety in opposition to reinfection by Omicron afforded by previous an infection could also be as little as 19%,” Imperial College added in an announcement, noting that the study had not but been peer reviewed.

An earlier study by Britain’s SIREN reinfection threat in well being staff, which was carried out earlier than Omicron emerged, discovered {that a} first coronavirus an infection provided 85% safety from a second for the next six months.

The knowledge analysed by Imperial College was based mostly on 333,000 instances, together with 122,062 of Delta and 1,846 which have been confirmed because the Omicron coronavirus variant by means of genome sequencing.

The new findings might speed up the imposition of tighter restrictions throughout numerous European nations in a bid to stem the brand new variant’s unfold.

(Reporting by Clara-Laeila Laudette; Editing by Alexander Smith)