Virologists called the differences between "omicron" and other strains

The omicron strain of covid-19 is characterized by a milder course of the disease and a lower proportion of deaths among those infected, virologists told RBC.

Omicron is more easily tolerated than previous variants of the CORONAVIRUS, including the delta strain, said Vitaly Zverev, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, HEAD of the Department of Microbiology, Virology, and Immunology at Sechenov University.

“So far I don’t see any special differences, except that the lethality is lower. This is quite well known, ”said Alexander Chepurnov, head of the laboratory of especially dangerous infections of the Federal Research Center for Fundamental and Translational Medicine (FRC FTM), adding that when infected with the omicron strain, mortality is four to 12 times lower.

For the omicron strain, unlike the "delta", respiratory symptoms are more characteristic, such as severe sore throat, nasal congestion, dry cough, said Vladimir Bolibok, an allergist-immunologist, in an interview with the Moscow 24 TV channel. According to him, fever, severe weakness and headache are added to these signs. As for the loss of smell, with the omicron strain, this symptom is observed closer to recovery, Bolibok notes.