doctor rowland kao. _ particularly here in the uk.uk. doctor rowland kao, thank you _ particularly here in the uk. doctor rowland kao, thank you very - particularly here in the uk. doctor| rowland kao, thank you very much particularly here in the uk. doctor- rowland kao, thank you very much for joining us. rowland kao, thank you very much for 'oinin~ us. . .. rowland kao, thank you very much for 'oinin~ us. ., ,, i. let's bring you some live pictures from the greek island of lesbos where the pope is meeting refugees touring a temporary reception centre set up after the notorious moria camp burned down, last year. the new mavrovouni camp, set up in an old army firing base, hosts about 2,300 people, most of them afghans. it was a very different picture when he was last there with 25,000 refugees. he flew back to the vatican following a one—day trip in 2016 with three families of syrian refugees, offering asylum to all 12 of them, including six children. i think he said he wants to take 50 refugees back on this trip. greece has long been

professor rowland kao, epidemiologist at university of edinburgh, spoke to me earlier and emphasisediant. there�*s an awful lot of uncertainty regarding the potential impact in the medium term future of the omicron variant but what we do know is there is now increasing evidence from south africa that it�*s extremely widespread there and that the reinfection rates, the rate at which the variant is infecting people who have already been infected with other versions of coronavirus is higher. that�*s something that�*s new and different compared to the other variants. it�*s that increased risk which means it�*s more likely that highly vulnerable portions of the population here are likely to have greater risk posed to themselves, we had largely protected them through a combination of natural infection and vaccination, mainly the latter. some of those protections will likely disappear but we do not know for sure. in terms of the impact of the omicron variant, we keep hearing it is mild and i think it�*s still the case that nobody has died of it? i�*m not sure what the latest is or not, that

. _ and we'rejoined now by the epidemiologist professor rowland kao of edinburgh university.— the last day? well, the first thing to sa is the last day? well, the first thing to say is you _ the last day? well, the first thing to say is you have _ the last day? well, the first thing to say is you have to _ the last day? well, the first thing to say is you have to be _ the last day? well, the first thing to say is you have to be quite - to say is you have to be quite careful about interpreting any single day's figure. however the trend is very, very consistent, which is that we are seeing rates of spread, both in terms of the number of cases and the way, krohn is spreading geographically that we've not seen before, certainly not since very earliest days of the pandemic here in the uk —— omicron. very earliest days of the pandemic here in the uk -- omicron.- very earliest days of the pandemic here in the uk -- omicron. there are some areas — here in the uk -- omicron. there are some areas where _ here in the uk -- omicron. there are some areas where it _ here in the uk -- omicr

let's speak to rowland kao, professor of epidemiology and data science at the university of edinburghys to a week? i would think the critical thing _ days to a week? i would think the critical thing here _ days to a week? i would think the critical thing here is _ days to a week? i would think the critical thing here is the _ days to a week? i would think the critical thing here is the addition i critical thing here is the addition of the lateral flow test to try and ensure that the person is not at least heavily laden virus. fibre speaks relatively early but then drops off. there's still a substantial chance of people still being infectious later on, but does drop off quite quickly. so the combination of the reduction in the period, plus the lateral flow test will give you, hopefully, roughly the same level of protection against infections as you do with the ten day quarantine. it does mean you should not be cautious in some of the guidance does tell you about that. .,, , , the guidance does tell you about that. , ., . ., , ., that. possible with omicron but not ossible that. possibl