An international observational study to assess the impact of the Omicron variant emergence on the clinical epidemiology of COVID-19 in hospitalised patients

BP Gonçalves, M Hall, W Jassat, V Balan, S Murthy, C Kartsonaki, MG Semple, A Rojek, J Baruch, L Felipe Reyes, A Dasgupta, J Dunning, B Wanjiru Citarella, M Pritchard, A Martín-Quiros, U Sili, JK Baillie, D Aryal, Y Arabi, A Rashan, A Angheben, J Caoili, FM Carrier, EM Harrison, J Gómez-Junyent, C Figueiredo-Mello, JJ Douglas, M Basri Mat Nor, Y Ping Chow, X Ci Wong, S Bertagnolio, S Thwin, A Streinu-Cercel, Leonardo Salazar, Asgar Rishu, Rajavardhan Rangappa, David SY Ong, Madiha Hashmi, G Carson, J Diaz, R Fowler, MUG Kraemer, E Wils, P Horby, L Merson, PL Olliaro, ISARIC Clinical Characterisation Group eLife DOI 10.7554/eLife.80556

Abstract: Whilst timely clinical characterisation of infections caused by novel SARS-CoV-2 variants is necessary for evidence-based policy response, individual-level data on infecting variants are typically only available for a minority of patients and settings. Here, we propose an innovative approach to study changes in COVID-19 hospital presentation and outcomes after the Omicron variant emergence using publicly available population-level data on variant relative frequency to infer SARS-CoV-2 variants likely responsible for clinical cases.