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Comment by NicoJuicy | Hacker News Reader

This is not Omicron. As far as I'm aware, main infections in the UK are currently from Delta.

Edit: @downvoters. How do you know hospital cases are currently Omicron? As far as i know there is a delay between new cases and hospitalized cases of multiple days. And the difference isn't shown in the article.

A hospitalized case of delta is averaged at ~ 8,5 days of hospitalization. So we have to wait at least another week.

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Things have changed fast. In London, 86.4% of COVID-19 cases with known S-gene status have s-gene target failure[1] which is a marker of Omicron (albeit with pending sequencing confirmation for certainty[2])

[1] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/...

[2] https://www.who.int/news/item/26-11-2021-classification-of-o...

Delta hospitalization is averaged at 8,5 days. You're talking about new cases and not currently hospitalized cases, which is what I'm interested in for Omicron.

To know the difference, we should at least wait another week after Omicron takes over new cases in statistics.

My comment was in response to the statement you made before your edit which was

>>main infections in the UK are currently from Delta.

But that is the number of cases, not the number in the hospital.

Since hospitalization lags, we cannot assume hospitalization based on case numbers.

Per [1] As of 18th December, a majority of cases testing with the SGTF (indicator for Omicron) reached over 50% on the 14th December. It's clearer to see in Figure 2.

[1] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/...

I have a strong feeling that current hospital cases are mostly delta ( there is a delay between both normally, since delta averages 8,5 days in hospitalization)

Even when new cases could be Omicron.

Either way, we will know soon.

The latest data released on Friday by the U.K. Health Security Agency indicates that 54% of positive tests in England taken on Tuesday and Wednesday were of Omicron, and more than 80% of cases in London.

As of 12/17, Omicron seems to be around 50% of new cases in UK, measured by proxy with S-gene target failure:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/...

London is primarily Omicron at this point - it was 50% of infections 4 days ago and spreading much quicker.

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