Under the title "Despite Its Rapid Spread.. British Scientist Downplays Omicron Threat," the Al-Hurra website reported that after becoming the dominant strain in the United Kingdom, a prominent British scientist has minimized the severity of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, despite its rapid transmission among people. Sir John Bell, a professor of medicine at the University of Oxford, indicated that although hospital admissions have increased in recent weeks with the spread of the Omicron variant among the UK population, the disease "seems less severe, and many people spend a relatively short time in hospital." He stated in radio remarks reported by The Guardian that few COVID-19 patients required oxygen, as the average length of stay decreased to three days, suggesting that this trend may continue. He added, "The horrific scenes we saw a year ago of intensive care units being full and many people dying are now a thing of the past."
The United Kingdom has recorded record numbers of COVID-19 infections in recent days, driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant, reporting about 129,000 cases in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, stated that people infected with COVID-19 should ultimately be allowed to "live their normal lives" as if they had colds. He added, "This is a disease that will not disappear. Eventually, we will have to allow those who have been exposed to the virus to live their normal lives as they do with any other cold."
Conversely, Simon Clarke, an assistant professor of cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, warned that recent data is incomplete. He mentioned that the latest case numbers do not include sample data taken during the Christmas holiday, which saw family gatherings, indicating that the nature of the virus's spread among the population during the Christmas period will become clearer in the next week. He continued, "While nobody wants to live under tighter restrictions due to the pandemic, people need to realize that any major issues related to hospital admissions and widespread illness will be worse than if authorities had acted earlier."
