Kaz,
Whitty's own words below.
'The amount of immunity for this wave because of prior Delta wave and vaccination is far higher than it was for their last wave and, therefore, the fact they have a lower hospitalisation rate this time is unsurprising.
'That doesn't mean there is some degree of milder disease — that is possible — but I think there is a danger that people have overinterpreted this to say this is not a problem and there's nothing to worry about. I want to be clear, I am afraid this is going to be a problem.'
Followed by this warning by SAGE which Whitty is a key part of.
The government’s SPI-M-O group of scientists, which reports to the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), also warned that, based on their modelling, hospitalisations could peak between 3,000 and 10,000 a day and deaths at between 600 and 6,000 a day.
You want science? Or perhaps you prefer simple maths? Compare the current death rates from Omicron to that predicted by SAGE above.