UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid has welcomed studies suggesting the Omicron COVID-19 variant may cause less severe illness than earlier strains, but warned it could still lead to “significant” hospital admissions. Researchers from the Imperial College London estimated that Omicron patients were 20- to 25-percent less likely to need hospital care and 40- to 45-percent less likely to be hospitalized for one night or more when compared to patients with the Delta variant. The researchers also estimated that natural immunity, or protection from a prior infection, reduces the risk of hospitalization by 50 percent and the risk of a hospital stay of one night or more by 61 percent. Scientists in a separate Scotland-wide study called Early Pandemic Evaluation and Enhanced Surveillance of COVID-19 said Omicron is associated with a two-thirds reduction in the risk of hospital admission compared with Delta. Reacting to the new findings on Thursday, Javid said: …