Dikhyaa Mohanty 
According to a study of Danish households, the Omicron variant of Covid-19, rapidly spreading across the world, has the ability to escape immunity much better than the previous Delta strain. The SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.529, which is referred to as the Omicron variant of concern (VOC), has overtaken the Delta in South Africa as well as the US, the UK, and several other countries. It has also spread rapidly to more than 100 countries.
According to the reports, the study which is yet to be peer reviewed, led by researchers from the University of Copenhagen and Danish Ministry of Health and others, estimated the transmission dynamics following the spread of Omicron within Danish households during December 2021.
The study compared households infected with the Omicron to Delta and found an 1.17 times higher secondary attack rate for unvaccinated, 2.61 times higher for fully vaccinated and 3.66 times higher for booster-vaccinated individuals, demonstrating strong evidence of immune evasiveness of the Omicron. Moreover, the study showed that the Omicron is generally 2.7-3.7 times more infectious than the Delta among vaccinated individuals, with a short doubling time.
The study also showed that booster-vaccinated individuals generally had a reduced transmissibility and that unvaccinated individuals had a higher transmissibility, compared to fully vaccinated individuals.
Further, the researchers observed no significant difference between the secondary attack rate of Omicron versus Delta among unvaccinated individuals.
