Background: Since preliminary evidence suggests that the new SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant may cause different symptoms and trigger outbreaks associated with less severe illness compared to previous strains, we conducted and infodemic analysis to verify these suppositions.
Methods: We searched Google Trends using the most frequent COVID-19 symptoms, with “United Kingdom” country option and search periods “20-26 December 2020” (predominance of Alpha variant) and “19-25 December 2021” (Omicron prevalence >80%).
Results: Seven symptoms (i.e., conjunctivitis, chills, cough, aches, fever, nausea and sore throat) appeared to be more searched in 2021 compared to 2020 (i.e., >15% increase), five symptoms (i.e., anosmia, tiredness, ageusia, sneezing and shortness of breath) were found to be less searched in 2021 compared to 2020 (i.e., >15% decrease), whilst the number of Google searches for headache, diarrhea and runny nose were almost comparable between the two periods (i.e., <15% variation).
Conclusion: Actual predominance of Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant in UK is associated with higher number of Google searches for mild symptoms (conjunctivitis, chills, cough, aches and fever), accompanied by considerable lower interest for a severe clinical sign like shortness of breath, which characterizes lower respiratory tract infection.