Is It a Covid Virus or an Omicron Variant?

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Virus seems to be better at infecting your bronc tubes. Seems to replicate 70 times better than the older variants. Doesn't seem to cause quite so much damage in the lungs, which is where it causes the most severe disease. In researches around the world are trying to learn more about the omecron variant and we may have some clues about how omicron manages to spread.

Yesterday, daily cases in the UK exceeded 100,000 for the first time since the pandemic began. Despite this, the government has stuck to its guns in refusing to introduce any restrictions in England before Christmas Day. Yesterday also saw the publishing of a report from a team at Imperial College London that suggests, in the UK, the risk of a hospital stay is 40% lower with Omicron than Delta. To find out what all this means for the weeks and months ahead, Madeleine Finlay speaks to the Guardian’s science editor, Ian Sample.. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod