Omicron is ‘not the same disease’ as earlier Covid waves, says UK scientist

@font-face{font-family:"Guardian Headline Full";src:url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.woff2) format("woff2"),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.woff) format("woff"),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.ttf) format("truetype");font-weight:300;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:"Guardian Headline Full";src:url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.woff2) format("woff2"),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.woff) format("woff"),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.ttf) format("truetype");font-weight:300;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:"Guardian Headline Full";src:url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.woff2) format("woff2"),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.woff) format("woff"),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.ttf) format("truetype");font-weight:400;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:"Guardian Headline Full";src:url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.woff2) format("woff2"),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.woff) format("woff"),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.ttf) format("truetype");font-weight:400;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:"Guardian Headline Full";src:url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.woff2) format("woff2"),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.woff) format("woff"),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.ttf) format("truetype");font-weight:500;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:"Guardian Headline Full";src:url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.woff2) format("woff2"),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.woff) format("woff"),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.ttf) format("truetype");font-weight:500;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:"Guardian Headline Full";src:url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.woff2) format("woff2"),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.woff) format("woff"),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.ttf) format("truetype");font-weight:600;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:"Guardian Headline Full";src:url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.woff2) format("woff2"),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.woff) format("woff"),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.ttf) format("truetype");font-weight:600;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:"Guardian Headline Full";src:url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.woff2) format("woff2"),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.woff) format("woff"),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.ttf) format("truetype");font-weight:700;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:"Guardian Headline Full";src:url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.woff2) format("woff2"),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.woff) format("woff"),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.ttf) format("truetype");font-weight:700;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:"Guardian Headline Full";src:url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.woff2) format("woff2"),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.woff) format("woff"),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.ttf) format("truetype");font-weight:900;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:"Guardian Headline Full";src:url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.woff2) format("woff2"),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.woff) format("woff"),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.ttf) format("truetype");font-weight:900;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:"Guardian Titlepiece";src:url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.woff2) format("woff2"),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.woff) format("woff"),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.ttf) format("truetype");font-weight:700;font-style:normal}.interactive-atom{margin:0;padding:0;padding-top:20px;padding-bottom:20px}.interactive-wrapper{max-width:860px}#gv-svg-col-chart.tests-chart{overflow:visible}.gv-headline.multi-top{font-size:20px}@media (min-width:28.125em){.gv-headline.multi-top{font-size:20px}}.gv-chart-mult .gv-headline{font-size:20px;color:#767676;font-weight:300}@media (min-width:28.125em){.gv-chart-mult .gv-headline{font-size:18px}}.cases-last-number{font-size:13px;line-height:18px;font-family:"Guardian Text Sans Web","Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,"Lucida Grande",sans-serif;font-size:24px;font-weight:bolder;fill:#880105}@media (min-width:28.125em){.cases-last-number{font-size:14px}}.cases-last-number .black{fill:#333}.cases-last-number.black{fill:#333}.cases-last-number--white{fill:none;stroke:#fff;stroke-opacity:.75;stroke-width:3}.area-label-text{fill:#000}#y-hilite-label{font-size:13px;line-height:18px;font-family:"Guardian Text Sans Web","Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,"Lucida Grande",sans-serif;font-size:26px;font-weight:400;fill:#929297}@media (min-width:28.125em){#y-hilite-label{font-size:13px}}.cases-last-number-white{stroke:#fff;-webkit-text-stroke-width:1px;-webkit-text-stroke-color:#fff}.gv-shadow-text{stroke:1px solid #fff}.x.axis .tick line,.y.axis .tick line{color:#dcdcdc;stroke-width:1px}.x.axis text,.y.axis text{font-family:'Guardian Text Sans Web',Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:400;line-height:20px;text-align:left;fill:#929297;font-style:normal;font-size:24px}@media (min-width:28.125em){.x.axis text,.y.axis text{font-size:14px}}.gv-chart-mult .x.axis text,.gv-chart-mult .y.axis text{font-size:16px;fill:#dcdcdc}@media (min-width:28.125em){.gv-chart-mult .x.axis text,.gv-chart-mult .y.axis text{font-size:14px}}.gv-key-label{line-height:18px;font-family:"Guardian Text Sans Web","Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,"Lucida Grande",sans-serif;color:#999;font-size:20px}@media (min-width:28.125em){.gv-key-label{font-size:12px}}.gv-headline{font-size:20px;line-height:24px;font-family:"Guardian Headline","Guardian Egyptian Web","Guardian Headline Full",Georgia,serif;font-weight:900;margin-bottom:24px}.timestamp{font-size:16px;line-height:20px;font-family:"Guardian Text Egyptian Web",Georgia,serif;margin-bottom:12px;font-weight:300}.chart-target-label{width:120px;position:absolute;top:90px;left:18px;font-size:13px;line-height:18px;font-family:"Guardian Text Sans Web","Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,"Lucida Grande",sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-weight:400;fill:#929297}@media (min-width:28.125em){.chart-target-label{width:175px;line-height:18px;font-size:14px;top:120px;left:37px}}.text-label--white{fill:none;stroke:#fff;stroke-opacity:.75;stroke-width:3}.text-label{font-size:13px;line-height:18px;font-family:"Guardian Text Sans Web","Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,"Lucida Grande",sans-serif;font-size:22px;font-weight:bolder}@media (min-width:28.125em){.text-label{font-size:14px}}.text-label .label-head{font-family:"Guardian Headline","Guardian Egyptian Web","Guardian Headline Full",Georgia,serif;font-size:26px}@media (min-width:28.125em){.text-label .label-head{font-size:18px}}.text-label .label-head .black{fill:#000}.gv-chart-mult .text-label{font-size:16px;font-weight:600}@media (min-width:28.125em){.gv-chart-mult .text-label{font-size:14px}}.gv-chart-mult{margin-top:15px}@media (min-width:28.125em){.gv-chart-mult{margin-right:20px}}.gv-choropleth-wrapper,.interactive-wrapper{padding:6px 0 12px 0;border:1px solid #dbdbdb;border-left-width:0;border-right-width:0}.source{padding:6px 0 6px 0;margin:0;font-family:'Guardian Text Sans Web',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:15px;color:#767676;display:inline-block;width:100%}.gv-headline{font-size:16px;line-height:20px;font-family:"Guardian Headline","Guardian Egyptian Web","Guardian Headline Full",Georgia,serif;font-weight:400;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:6px}@media (min-width:30em){.gv-headline{font-size:20px;line-height:24px;font-family:"Guardian Headline","Guardian Egyptian Web","Guardian Headline Full",Georgia,serif;font-weight:400;font-weight:700}}.interactive-atom{padding:4px}.android .interactive-atom,.ios .interactive-atom,.js-article .interactive-atom{padding:8px}.interactive-atom{margin:0;padding:0}.gv-headline{font-size:16px;line-height:20px;font-family:"Guardian Headline","Guardian Egyptian Web","Guardian Headline Full",Georgia,serif;font-weight:400;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:6px}@media (min-width:30em){.gv-headline{font-size:20px;line-height:24px;font-family:"Guardian Headline","Guardian Egyptian Web","Guardian Headline Full",Georgia,serif;font-weight:400;font-weight:700}}.gv-subhead{font-size:14px;line-height:20px;font-family:"Guardian Text Sans Web","Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,"Lucida Grande",sans-serif;margin-bottom:12px;color:#676767}.gv-sourceline{font-size:13px;line-height:18px;font-family:"Guardian Text Sans Web","Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,"Lucida Grande",sans-serif;color:#676767}.interactive-wrapper-country-embed{width:100%} !function(n){var r={};function o(e){if(r[e])return r[e].exports;var t=r[e]={i:e,l:!1,exports:{}};return n[e].call(t.exports,t,t.exports,o),t.l=!0,t.exports}o.m=n,o.c=r,o.d=function(e,t,n){o.o(e,t)||Object.defineProperty(e,t,{enumerable:!0,get:n})},o.r=function(e){"undefined"!=typeof Symbol&&Symbol.toStringTag&&Object.defineProperty(e,Symbol.toStringTag,{value:"Module"}),Object.defineProperty(e,"__esModule",{value:!0})},o.t=function(t,e){if(1&e&&(t=o(t)),8&e)return t;if(4&e&&"object"==typeof t&&t&&t.__esModule)return t;var n=Object.create(null);if(o.r(n),Object.defineProperty(n,"default",{enumerable:!0,value:t}),2&e&&"string"!=typeof t)for(var r in t)o.d(n,r,function(e){return t[e]}.bind(null,r));return n},o.n=function(e){var t=e&&e.__esModule?function(){return e.default}:function(){return e};return o.d(t,"a",t),t},o.o=function(e,t){return Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(e,t)},o.p="",o(o.s=442)}({442:function(e,t,n){e.exports=n(443)},443:function(e,t){var n=document.createElement("script");n.src="https://interactive.guim.co.uk/atoms/2020/08/uk-coronavirus-dashboard-v2/column-chart-cases/v/1639754006467/app.js",document.body.appendChild(n),setTimeout(function(){var e,t;window.resize&&(e=document.querySelector("html"),t=document.querySelector("body"),e.style.overflow="hidden",e.style.margin="0px",e.style.padding="0px",t.style.overflow="hidden",t.style.margin="0px",t.style.padding="0px",window.resize())},100)}}); function resize() { window.frameElement.height = document.body.offsetHeight; } window.addEventListener('resize', resize); resize(); var fonts = [].slice.apply(window.parent.document.styleSheets) .filter(function (sheet) { return sheet.ownerNode.className.indexOf("webfont") > - 1; }) .map(function (sheet) { return sheet.ownerNode.textContent; }) .join(' '); var css = document.createElement('style'); css.textContent = fonts; document.head.appendChild(css);