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With the Caveat that even Denmark is having difficulties testing for Omicron (see Denmark SSI To Scale Back Omicron Sequencing Due To Volume Of Cases), the impact that this new variant is having is unmistakable, with the world headed for a record-breaking wave of infections.
The good news in all of this is hospitalizations and deaths are not rising as rapidly as infections, providing more evidence that Omicron - at least in highly vaccinated populations - isn't as severe as Delta.
But as Denmark reports today - hospitalized cases are rising - meaning that Omicron may be milder, but it is far from benign.
(translated)
The number of new covid-19 cases increased by as much as 50% and the number of new admissions by 16% from week 49 to 50. The infection is now at the highest level during the entire covid-19 epidemic, and the number of new omicron cases is increasing greatly quickly.Last edited December 23, 2021
As the Christmas days approach, the covid epidemic has gained further momentum.
According to the latest trend report from the Statens Serum Institut (SSI), the number of new covid-19 cases increased by as much as 50% from week 49 to week 50, while the number of new admissions increased by 16%.
This is a clear increase from the previous trend report, which covered the development from week 48 to 49. Here, the corresponding figures were 39% (new covid-19 cases) and 9.8% (new admissions).
"The infection is at its highest level during the entire covid-19 epidemic. However, the number of admissions still does not increase to nearly the same degree as the number of infected. And the level of new, daily admissions is still lower than at the same time last year, when we did not have the vaccines yet ", says ward doctor Rebecca Legarth from SSI.
In total, the incidence was 1,223 cases per. 100,000 in week 50 against 817 cases per. 100,000 in week 49.
See the new trend report
The number of infected 6-11 year olds sets a new record
According to the report, the infection is still clearly highest among school children aged 6-11 years. Here the incidence is now up to 2,679 cases per. 100,000 in week 50 against 2,576 cases per 100,000 the week before. It is far higher than for the other age groups and by far the highest incidence at any point in the pandemic.
"However, it seems that the growth among the 6-11-year-olds is flattening out. On the other hand, we are experiencing a large increase among the 20-24-year-olds and the 16-19-year-olds with 1,916 and 1,873 cases per year, respectively. 100,000, ”says Rebecca Legarth.
She continues:
"In addition, we are seeing an increasing proportion of covid-19 cases among people who have been vaccinated, just as there is an increasing number of cases among nursing home residents has increased."
In general, the incidence is now over 1,000 per. 100,000 for all age groups. The only exceptions are the 0-2 year olds and the 50+ year olds.
Increasing number of cases with omicron
On Sunday 28 November, the first two cases of the covid-19 variant omicron (B.1.1.529) were detected in Denmark. Both cases had travel history from South Africa.
Since then, the number of new omikron cases has increased rapidly. On December 21, a total of 26,362 cases had been detected.
“In parallel with the development of the general epidemic with the delta variant, we are now seeing this strong growth in the number of cases of omicron. Here we experience an over-frequency in the number of infected among the 15-19-year-olds and 20-29-year-olds. ”
“We are also experiencing a higher incidence among people who have been vaccinated than for the delta variant. And finally, we can see that the 20-29-year-olds and 30-39-year-olds now make up about a third of all new admissions with the omikron variant ", says Rebecca Legarth
A little more died
While the number of new infections is rising markedly, the number of deaths has remained largely unchanged since the previous trend report. From 64 died in week 49 to 69 died the following week.
There were 8 covid-19-related deaths among residents of nursing homes in week 49.
Vaccines protect against infection and hospitalizations
The report also shows - as previous reports have done - that you are better off against covid-19 if you are vaccinated than if you are not.
The figures show that the risk of becoming infected was 1.4 times higher among the unvaccinated groups over 12 years of age compared to those vaccinated. And the risk of becoming so ill from covid-19 that one has to be hospitalized was in week 49 4.5 times higher for unvaccinated groups over 12 years of age than for those who have received the vaccine.
"It is quite clear that the vaccines carry a lower risk of infection among the vaccinated and provide better protection against becoming seriously ill if you become infected anyway.
According to our figures, there are currently 26 admissions per. 100,000 among unvaccinated (50 for unvaccinated over 12 years) against 11 per. 100,000 among vaccinated calculated for all groups from 12 years and up ", says Rebecca Legarth.
Most infection in the Capital Region
There are also still large differences in the level of infection around the country. From an incidence of 755 per. 100,000 in the North Jutland Region to well over double in the Capital Region, where the incidence was 1,880 per. 100,000 in week 50.
At the same time, the positive percentage has increased from 4.7% to 6.6% from week 49 to 50. In the Capital Region, the positive percentage was 9.5% in week 50.
