Omicron becomes dominant coronavirus strain in Rochdale, as public health boss warns even ‘best case scenario’ is cause for concern

Omicron has become the dominant coronavirus strain in Rochdale, the borough’s director of public health has confirmed.

Kuiama Thompson says Covid rates increased ‘rapidly’ throughout December, with Omicron ‘really quickly’ replacing Delta as the prevalent variant.

It comes as a recent study at Imperial College London suggests Omicron’s mutations have made the virus milder.

Combined with the immunity built up in the population through vaccination and prior infection, it means people are around 40% less likely to need to stay in hospital for more than one day.

There is also a 25% to 30% lower risk of having to visit A&E.

While the findings are clearly welcome – and backed by research coming out of South Africa – Ms Thompson sounds a note of caution.

“In terms of severity, a lot of that is still emerging,” she said.

“I know there were a couple of papers released yesterday [Wednesday], we still need to fully understand that.

“The issue from my perspective is that we know this is very infectious. We know that for sure, we have seen those numbers increase rapidly.

“Even if we take severity out of the picture, we know that even a small proportion of a very big number is a significant impact that we will see.”

Ms Thompson, who was permanently appointed to her role in September, says there could potentially be a ‘significant impact’ on hospitalisations.

“We are still to see how that plays out,” she adds.

But just as worrying are the ramifications for the borough’s health and social care workers.

“By having lots of people become infected very quickly, the impact on the workforce – even in a best-case scenario in terms of severity – that’s still a real concern for us,” Ms Thompson added.

As well as hitting health and social care, there are also fears of an impact on other vital services in the borough.

Ms Thompson continued: “It’s also a concern in terms of bin collections and deliveries and all the other things we are potentially going to see this real impact [on], just from the number of cases alone.”

There was a 97% rise in cases in Rochdale over the week to 24 December, with the infection rate standing at 1204 cases per 100,000 population.

 

 

Further information, guidance and advice can be found on the council’s website.

Nick Statham, Local Democracy Reporter