Colleagues from GSTT in collaboration with the Royal Free and St. George’s have just published a new paper evaluating the transmission dynamics of Omicron SARS-CoV-2 vs. previous variants in hospitalised inpatients in Infection Prevention in Practice. The key finding is that the median days to inpatient contact conversion were significantly fewer for Omicron SARS-CoV-2 when compared with previous variants (median 3 days for Omicron vs. 4 days for previous variants).
Continue readingvoc
B.1.617.2: an update
PHE released the latest epidemiological summary of the B.1.617.2 VOC (aka “the variant that was first identified in India”) a few days ago. Evidence is emerging rapidly, and the datasets are far from conclusive. But it now seems clear that B.1.617.2 is more transmissible, causes no more hospitalisation or mortality, and vaccine effectiveness is slightly reduced when compared with other variants.
Continue readingThe Indian variant…
As you may have heard, there’s a new SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern (VOC) on the block. So what do we know about this new variant? And how much of a threat does it pose to the pre-COVID freedom that we can see on the near horizon?
Continue reading
Reflections on Infection Prevention and Control 