![]() The general information included (1) demographic characteristics such as age, gender, education, smoking status, etc and (2) medical history. On recruitment, a questionnaire was taken by the participants to record recent changes in taste and smell and the occurrence of other COVID-19 symptoms. Mild or asymptomatic infections based on the diagnostic criteria of New Coronavirus Pneumonia Prevention and Control Programme ninth edition were quarantined at makeshift hospitals and were invited to participate in this study, which aimed to (1) investigate the symptoms of patients with Omicron infection and (2) analyse the prevalence and potential risk factors of smell and taste dysfunction caused by Omicron infection. Therefore, more studies are needed to investigate the prevalence and severity of chemosensory dysfunction among Omicron patients.Ĭurrently, the Omicron pandemic continues in Shanghai, China. 12 Even though the prevalence of chemosensory dysfunction seems to have decreased, the huge population infected with Omicron leads to high numbers of people suffering from smell or taste alteration. 12 19 20 A recent study investigating Omicron cases in UK showed that the rate of loss of smell was lower (16.7%) during the Omicron wave than during the Delta wave (52.7%). 17 18 Smell and taste dysfunction is one of the most common reported symptoms, and its morbidity was about 50%–70% in COVID-19 patients before November 2021. 16 Omicron infection mainly causes mild upper respiratory symptoms, such as cough, fatigue, joint pain, sore throat and congestion or runny nose. 15 Meanwhile, Omicron infections resulted in more milder cases (63.2%) than Delta infections (51.8%), and the infection rate of Omicron (68.7%, (66.3%–82.5%)) was higher than that of Delta in vaccinated patients (52.6%, (49.4%–55.7%)). 12–14 Omicron has a much higher rate of asymptomatic carriage than other variants. 11 Omicron infection is less likely to cause lower respiratory tract symptoms than Delta, and the rate of hospital admission and intensive care was reduced in the UK, France and South Africa. ![]() The median incubation period of Omicron is about 2–3 days, which is shorter than that of previous variants. 10 The higher viral load in saliva and the nasopharynx may contribute to the higher transmissibility of Omicron. 9 Another study showed higher antigen levels in saliva specimens than in mid-turbinate nasal swabs and oropharyngeal swabs. ![]() 8 The mean viral load measured in nasopharyngeal swabs was significantly higher during the period when Omicron prevailed than during the period when Alpha prevailed, and the rate of subjects with high nasopharyngeal viral load increased more than twofold. On 10 April 2022, it was reported that the number of infections in mainland China was 242 291 and continued to increase. 7 The Omicron wave swept across the whole country, despite control measures of all detected infections. The first Omicron infection case in mainland China was reported on 14 December, 2021 in Tianjin. By April 2022, Omicron was the predominant variant around the world. 6 It is thus clear that Omicron has higher transmissibility than other variants. The average effective reproduction number (Re) for Omicron is 3.4, which is 3.8 times higher than that of Delta. 4 5 It has been reported that the average basic reproduction number (R 0) of Omicron is 9.5, ranging from 5.5 to 24, which is 2.5 times higher than that of Delta. 3 The infectivity of Omicron is nearly 10 times higher than that of the original SARS‐CoV‐2. 2 Omicron rapidly swept across the world more than one million people were infected daily since 24 December 2021. 1 The newly recognised variant Omicron was first reported in November 2021 in South Africa. Since the end of 2019, COVID-19, which is caused by SARS-CoV-2, is a severe threat to human health and the economy globally.
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