NEW DELHI: India could see a major surge in Omicron cases during December-January as the variant is expected to outpace the speed at which the Delta strain spread, a senior official source told TOI. He said the infections, however, are likely to remain mild.
The spike, predicted after conducting modelling studies, should be no cause for panic as the infectious disease appears to be approaching a stage of high level in which transmissibility will remain high, but the virus will not cause severe disease, he said.
The official said there was no reason to panic, adding, “We need to work on controlling Omicron’s transmissibility.”
The WHO’s latest brief on Omicron says it is likely that the new SARS-COV2 strain will outpace the Delta variant in spots where community transmission occurs. Delta variant, which caused the devastating second wave worldwide earlier this year, still continues to be the dominating variant in India and across the globe.
Health officials in India maintain that though an upsurge in Omicron cases is expected over next couple of months and it will gradually overtake Delta, the infectons may not overwhelm the healthcare system. “Our efforts are focused on ramping up double dose vaccination so that the majority of the population is protected against severe disease and death. Data from other countries shows that Omicron is causing only mild disease. So in a situation where we are able to protect our high risk population with vaccine, there is no cause for worry,” the official said.
The Centre has asked states to focus on containment measures to limit transmission and ramp up coverage of double dose of vaccine.
The principal concerns about omicron include whether it is more infectious or severe than other VoCs and whether it can circumvent vaccine protection.
Anthony Fauci claimed that while it would take weeks to judge the severity of the new Covid-19 variant Omicron, early indications suggested it was not worse than prior strains, and possibly milder.
More data are needed to know if Omicron infections, and especially reinfections and breakthrough infections in people who are fully vaccinated, cause more severe illness or death than infection with other variants.
The symptoms of infection include weakness, tiredness, headache, low grade fever and pain in the throat.
More data are needed to know if Omicron infections, and especially reinfections and breakthrough infections in people who are fully vaccinated, cause more severe illness or death than infection with other variants.
In general, it's too early to make a claim that omicron has better or worse symptoms than delta. Although anecdotal evidence shows that confirmed cases of COVID-19 caused by omicron have caused mild symptoms, most of those people have been younger, according to South Africa's health department.
The caseload of the Omicron Covid-19 variant is rising each day in India. On Sunday, the tally rose to 38 after Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh and Kerala reported their first infections and Maharashtra and Karnataka also recorded one each of the latest coronavirus variants.
This immune response is triggered by an antigen present in the vaccine. The blood flow in the body is increased to increase the circulation of the defensive immune cells in the body. This can lead to an increase in body temperature, which can consequently show up as fever.
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