Is new omicron more severe?

From Danish data, no, but more younger people are admitted to hospital

Risk assessment of Omicron BA.2

https://en.ssi.dk/-/media/arkiv/subsites/covid19/risikovurderinger/2022/risk-assesment-of-omicron-ba2.pdf?la=en

The Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant has quickly become dominant in many countries,

significantly higher growth potential than the Delta variant

Omicron variant is more transmissible than the Delta variant

Secondary Attack Rate

BA.1 29%

BA.2 39%

and it has shown reduced sensitivity to neutralizing antibodies.

Vaccine induced protection against infection is also clearly reduced for the Omicron compared to the Delta variant.

Transmissibility is lower in fully vaccinated individuals and even lower in booster vaccinated individuals, compared to unvaccinated

Preliminary analyses

a 36%-80% risk reduction in hospitalization for the Omicron compared with the Delta

with most studies reporting a risk reduction between 45%-68%.

Omicron

Lineages B.1.1.529, BA.1, BA.2 and BA.3. BA.1

accounts for 97% of omicron worldwide

Denmark

Week 52, 2021, 20%

Week 3, 2022, 66%

an increase in the proportion of BA.2 and a decrease in the proportion of BA.1

BA.2 is probably beginning to take over in India, Philippines, European countries

Qatar, BA.2 seems to be dominant

Increased growth potential

Higher transmissibility and/or
increased ability to evade the immune system compared to BA.1.

Current knowledge about severity

no difference in hospital admission risk was detected for BA.1 and BA.2
(n = 932 patients)

BA,1 median age of hospital admission, 51

BA,2 median age of hospital admission, 40

Source