Omicron not lethal as Delta: Experts
Hyderabad: The present situation of the Omicron-driven Covid pandemic is indicating that the new variant of SARS-CoV-2 is not as lethal as the Delta variant, which caused the second wave and claimed lives of many, senior health officials here on Sunday said. However, they added that there was no need for people to panic. Making […]
Hyderabad: The present situation of the Omicron-driven Covid pandemic is indicating that the new variant of SARS-CoV-2 is not as lethal as the Delta variant, which caused the second wave and claimed lives of many, senior health officials here on Sunday said. However, they added that there was no need for people to panic.
Making it clear that there was no sign of community transmission of Omicron, health officials said the Delta variant still was a very strong and dominant strain in Telangana and continue to remain the main reason for the daily Covid-19 infections and deaths.
The variants of SARS-CoV-2 would become important for general public and even healthcare workers if the treatment modality changes. Otherwise, there was no relevance because Telangana and India as a whole was already fighting the Delta variant, which was far more lethal than Omicron. “There is no need for people to panic. However, there is a definite need for everybody to follow Covid appropriate behaviour,” authorities said. At the same time, health officials cautioned that Omicron had the ability to evade vaccine gained immunity and even natural immunity after recovering from Covid-19.
“It is becoming clear that vaccines may not work against the Omicron variant. In United Kingdom, despite 50 per cent of individuals receiving booster doses, there was no relief from the impact of the infections. There is a slight increase in the number of hospital admissions due to Omicron but there is no increase in the number of deaths in UK,” health officials here said.
The State health wing is also closely following the instructions and suggestions from researchers in the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Sequencing Consortium (INSACOG).
Doctors here said the data available so far suggested that Omicron had higher infectivity than the Delta variant and the risk of reinfection among those who gained natural immunity and breakthrough infections was high. However, there were no clear signs that Omicron was far more deadlier or severe than the earlier Delta variant.
“There is a clear sign that there will be a lot of reinfections with the Omicron variants, which means people who recovered from Covid could get infected again. There is also a possibility of quick spread of infections. However, there are no signs indicating that Omicron is severe than Delta,” officials said.
Tracking flyers huge task
Tracking and tracing of international passengers arriving from non ‘at-risk’ countries to Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA), Shamshabad has become a challenge for surveillance teams of the State Health Department, as there is a lot of scope for such passengers to ‘slip through the cracks’ and trigger rapid transmission of Omicron variant among the community.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) guidelines to screen and conduct RT-PCR tests for Omicron variant, has advised States to conduct RT-PCR tests for all international passengers arriving at airports from at-risk countries. There are no similar guidelines for travellers arriving from non ‘at-risk’ countries. As a result, Health Department is conducting random RT-PCR tests of only 2 per cent of passengers arriving from non ‘at-risk’ countries.
India’s Omicron count rises to 145
India’s Omicron COVID count rose to 145 on Sunday after a 45-year-old NRI and a teenage boy, who recently arrived in Gujarat from the United Kingdom, tested positive for the variant.
According to central and state officials, omicron cases have been detected in 11 states and union territories — Maharashtra (48), Delhi (22), Rajasthan (17) and Karnataka (14), Telangana (20), Gujarat (9), Kerala (11), Andhra Pradesh (1), Chandigarh (1), Tamil Nadu (1) and West Bengal (1). On Saturday, Maharashtra had reported eight more cases, Telangana’s tally jumped from eight to 20, while Karnataka and Kerala reported six and four cases respectively. In Gujarat, the non-resident Indian tested positive for the coronavirus infection in the RT-PCR test carried out at the Ahmedabad international airport soon after he arrived from the UK on December 15, a health department official said on Sunday.
“The man’s sample was later found infected with the Omicron variant,” Anand district health officer Dr M T Chhari said.
Also Read: Tracking flyers from non ‘at-risk’ countries huge task
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