The Omicron coronaviruses variant will dominate both countries in a matter of days, according to grim projections released by public health authorities. If the variant causes a lot of disease, it could cause an explosion of cases and increase pressure on hospitals, even if it is mild.
Researchers caution that the trend could change as the variant comes into clearer view, but the reports follow similar findings from England. It is not known how many Omicron infections will send people to the hospital or how many will die. Researchers don't know how well vaccinations and previous infections will protect people against severe disease, even though Omicron can partly evade immune defenses.
The authors of both new reports observed that swift actions now, such as booster campaigns and reducing opportunities for Omicron to spread, could diminish the variant's impact.
Omicron's rise in the United States has yet to be released by American researchers. The country is similar to other countries in terms of vaccination levels and age of the population.
Mads Albertsen, a microbiologist at Aalborg University, said that it would be nave to think that the United States would be any different than the Danes. Denmark is a best-case scenario.
In recent weeks, many epidemiologists have been paying close attention to the population of Wisconsin and the country of Danes.
The country set up a system of large-scale testing and genetic analysis for coronaviruses in the early days of the Pandemic. That strategy has allowed the Danes to spot new variant even at low levels and adjust public health policies to prepare for new surge.
The first Omicron sample from a country was from Danes. Researchers in South Africa first told the world about a rise in cases there around the same time the specimen was collected.
The image is.
Researchers at the Statens Serum Institute released an estimate that Omicron cases in the country were doubling every two days.
A quick genetic test that picks up a few key mutations found only in Omicron was developed by the researchers. The new variant of Omicron has been screened for every positive test result in the country.
Researchers at the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen estimated that Omicron cases in the country were doubling every two days. The report found that the new variant will become dominant by the middle of the week because Omicron is spreading faster than Delta.
The majority of the Omicron cases are in people who have received two vaccine doses, which is the same percentage as the entire country. Most scientists believe that the shots will still protect against disease and death, despite the high percentage.
There is a small report of Omicron infections in the United States. Of the 43 documented cases, 34 were people who were fully vaccine free.
Christina Ramirez, a biostatistician at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that the vaccine can spread the disease.
In England, researchers found that full vaccination did not provide enough protection against breakthrough infections. Booster shots restored defenses to higher levels.
Omicron will drive up cases in European countries. The country is currently seeing over 6,000 cases a day, which is already a record. The daily cases will reach 10,000 by the end of the week according to the researchers.
If the Omicron variant turns out to be milder than the earlier ones, the model predicts large numbers of people will go to the hospital. The researchers warned that Omicron could lead to dangerous drops in staffing as doctors and nurses are sent home to be with their families.
The image is.
There is a line for Covid booster shots in London.
The authors of the report warned that their model was preliminary. It didn't take into account the protection that boosters can afford. The country ofDenmark is pursuing an aggressive booster campaign after 21 percent of their population got a booster shot.
Troels Lillebaek, the director of the Statens Serum Institute, said that the next few weeks would be a challenge for the country's hospitals.
There is a high risk of an increasing number of admissions regardless of the uncertainty about the severity of Omicron.
In Norway, researchers have observed a rapid rise of Omicron. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health said in a statement on Monday that the Omicron variant will soon dominate.
In a preliminary scenario, the institute estimated that there would be up to 300,000 cases per day, a huge increase from the current pace of about 4,700 cases per day.
The Norwegian researchers said that this could lead to more hospital admissions. They think that Norwegian hospitals will see between 50 and 200 admissions a day if the epidemic is not stopped quickly. Norway is currently seeing about 30 admissions a day, which is enough to put a strain on the country's hospitals.
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health warned that there was an urgent need to curb the Covid-19 epidemic with significant measures so that the Omicron variant does not cause an epidemic that overloads the health service.
Restaurants and bars were required to close at midnight and some schools were switched to virtual instruction before the winter holidays as part of new public health restrictions imposed last week. The booster campaign is being accelerated. People who are 40 or older and have not had a second shot in at least four and a half months are eligible for a third dose.
The image is.
A vaccine site in September.
The Norwegian government announced new measures on Monday, though it stopped short of a full lockdown. There are new measures that include indoor mask mandates, a ban on serving alcohol, and restrictions on social gatherings.
The director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington said that Omicron will probably spread through the population in the United States.
He expects Omicron to become the dominant strain in the US sometime in January.
It is difficult to predict how the variant will affect hospitalizations because of the unknown severity.
There are a lot of possible outcomes here.
If cases and hospitalizations increase in tandem in the coming weeks, that will be a good sign.
Even if Omicron turns out to be relatively mild, its rapid spread could still put a heavy burden on hospitals.
Jeffrey Shaman, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Columbia University, said that an outbreak that peaks with twice as many people as infections is half as likely to put someone in the hospital. That is a wash. That means that you would see the same kind of crush.
A surge of Delta cases is already hurting some hospitals, and Omicron's arrival coincides with flu season, according to Joshua Salomon, an infectious disease expert and modeler.
He said that an Omicron surge on top of a Delta surge is a very worrisome combination.
The reporting was done by Henrik Pryser Libell from Oslo.
