these studies have been coming in for a couple of weeks now and we have a wave of them over the last several days that show a lower risk of hospitalization with omicron than compared to delta. should americans take these findings as encouraging? so i d rather see these findings than other findings, right? it s good that we re seeing the hospitalizations are less common, but it doesn t mean you throw all caution to the wind and say, okay, so this is just a cold. that s not the case. people are still being hospitalized. also we need to protect people who may not have been as well protected by their vaccines, elderly people or people with compromised immune systems. they could get hit by omicron very hard. let s take a look at results of a study, for example, that was done in scotland. so in scotland they found a two-thirds reduction in hospital risk when compared to when the delta variant was dominant and
you guys set? you ready? here we go. 3, 2 that is spider-man s tom holland making good on a promise he made to a real-life super hero, bridger walker, getting a lift in full costume. last year when he was 6 he was gravely injured by a dog when trying to save his little sister. holland promises to bring him to the spider-man set, and, boy, did he deliver. how cool is that? congratulations to all of them. all right, cnn s coverage continues right now. a very good christmas eve eve. good morning to you. i m jim sciutto. despite its fast spread across the u.s., here is the good news this holiday season. new studies, several of them, show that the omicron coronavirus variant may be less
europe, our cnn correspondents following the impact of the omicron variant around the globe. reporter: i m in london. the omicron variant is driving record-breaking case numbers yet again here. on wednesday more than 100,000 positive cases were recorded in england. that s the first time that we ve surpassed 100,000 cases in a single day since the start of the pandemic. still, prime minister boris johnson has said no new restrictions will be announced before christmas time. it comes as there s promising news coming from a preliminary pre-print paper from the university off edinburgh in scottland. it shows that the omicron variant may be milder. this paper said the risk of hospitalizations was reduced by two-thirds if you compare the omicron variant with the delta variant for those who are double vaccinated. it s giving health officials some hope, but still the fear is
failure. i think it s a you could argue that we should have known a year ago, six months ago, two months ago, a month ago. it s possible there could be other variants that come along, that s possible. but what do you plan for? you plan for what you think is available, that is the most likely threat that exists at the time, and you respond to it. president biden reiterated that the best defense is to get vaccinated. that s what the doctors, public health officials are saying as well. if you re already vaccinated, get boosted because the booster shots give you extra protection against omicron. for those who do get infected the fda has authorized the first pill to treat covid-19 infections. it is shown to reduce the risk for hospitalization and death by 88%. i mean just amazing results there. cnn senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen and cnn correspondent larry mado are following all of the developments here and internationally. elizabeth, let s begin with you.
they also foundi the booster wa linked to a 57% reduction in the risk of symptomatic infections. so emphasizing how useful the booster can be in this situation. really the advice is still the same. we re happy to see this data, of course, but still get vaccinated if you haven t been, get boosted if it s time for your turn, if it s time to get boosted, and do the common-sense approaches about masking and social distancing. jim? let s go to south africa now and larry mado because that s where omicron was first detected in long numbers. what s amazing, larry, when you hear from doctors and public health officials there is how quickly this seems to have peaked there and cases and new infections are already coming down. what are you finding? that s correct, jim. i spent most of this month reporting in south africa at the height of this crisis and now for the first time i m seeing a lot of south african scientists, epidemiologists, virologists now