FULLY vaccinated people who have had a booster against Covid-19 recover from symptoms from Omicron more than three days earlier than those with Delta, showed a study today.

The study also found that people with Omicron are significantly less likely to lose their sense of smell, and confirmed previous research that it is less severe.

To find out the differences in how both variants make sufferers sick, researchers used a free smartphone app called ZOE, on which more than 63,000 vaccinated people in Britain aged 16 to 99 self-reported their Covid-19 symptoms between June 2021 and January 2022.

For those with two vaccine doses and a booster, Omicron symptoms lasted 4.4 days, compared with Delta’s 7.7 days – a difference of 3.3 days.

For those with two vaccine doses but no booster, Omicron symptoms lasted 8.3 days, compared with Delta’s 9.6 days, according to the study published in the Lancet medical journal.

The swifter recovery suggests “that the period of infectiousness may be shorter, which will in turn impact workplace health policies and public health guidance”, said the researchers.

The study, which will be presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Lisbon this month, also found that only 17% of those with Omicron lost their sense of smell, compared with 53% for Delta.

However, Omicron-infected people have a 55% increased risk of getting a sore throat, and are 24% more likely to develop a hoarse voice. They are also 25% less likely to be admitted to hospital.

Study author Cristina Menni of King’s College London said it is the first peer-reviewed paper with a large number of participants that looked at the different symptoms of the two variants.

While the study covered a period before the Omicron BA.2 variant swept the world, “recent data from the app shows no change in symptoms in BA.2 compared with BA.1”, she said. – AFP, April 8, 2022.