Hospitalisation and mortality risk of SARS-COV-2 variant omicron sub-lineage BA.2 compared to BA.1 in England

Abstract

The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 became the globally dominant variant in early 2022. A sub-lineage of the Omicron variant (BA.2) was identified in England in January 2022. Here, we investigated hospitalisation and mortality risks of COVID-19 cases with the Omicron sub-lineage BA.2 (n = 258,875) compared to BA.1 (n = 984,337) in a large cohort study in England. We estimated the risk of hospital attendance, hospital admission or death using multivariable stratified proportional hazards regression models. After adjustment for confounders, BA.2 cases had lower or similar risks of death (HR = 0.80, 95% CI 0.71–0.90), hospital admission (HR = 0.88, 95% CI 0.83–0.94) and any hospital attendance (HR = 0.98, 95% CI 0.95–1.01). These findings that the risk of severe outcomes following infection with BA.2 SARS-CoV-2 was slightly lower or equivalent to the BA.1 sub-lineage can inform public health strategies in countries where BA.2 is spreading.

In this cohort study, the authors investigate the risk of severe outcomes following infection from Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 sub-lineages. Using whole genome sequencing and electronic health record data for ~980,000 BA.1 and ~250,000 BA.2 cases in England, they find a slightly lower risk of death and hospitalisation associated with BA.2.