The world is being hit by a tsunami of Omicron. Scientists, politicians and indeed all of us are grappling with what it means for our lives.

Restrictions are tightening in parts of the world in order to tackle the new variant.

There’s a constant stream of new information – some worrying, some positive. So where do we stand?

A surge in Omicron could put more people in hospital at the same time as taking away the people needed to care for them.

The sheer volume of people catching Omicron is also affecting doctors, nurses and the rest of the hospital workforce as they have to isolate too.

Omicron is less severe

If you catch Omicron then you are less likely to become seriously ill than with previous variants.

Studies from around the world are painting a consistent picture that Omicron is milder than the Delta variant, with a 30% to 70% lower chance of people infected ending up in hospital.

Omicron can cause cold-level symptoms such as a sore throat, runny nose and a headache, but that does not mean it will be mild for everyone and some will still be seriously ill.

Changes to the virus seem to have made it less dangerous, but most of the reduced severity is down to immunity as a result of vaccination and previous bouts of Covid.

But Omicron is spreading very fast

The worry is severity is only one half of the equation if you care about whether hospitals can cope.

If Omicron is half as likely to land you in hospital, but twice as many people are infected then the two cancel out and you’re back to square one.

And Omicron’s real talent is infecting people. It spreads faster than other variants and can bypass some of the immune protection from vaccines and prior infections.

The UK has record levels of Covid with confirmed cases reaching nearly 120,000 – and this is an underestimate of what is really going on as not everyone gets a test and people who catch it more than once aren’t included in the figures.

We’re not sure what will happen when Omicron hits the elderly

Old age has always been the biggest risk-factor for becoming seriously ill with Covid.

In the UK, most of the Omicron cases and people ending up in hospital are under the age of 40 so we do not know for sure what will happen when it reaches old and vulnerable populations.

The ability of Omicron to partially evade immunity means there is the potential for more older people to be infected than during the Delta wave.