Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan chairs a meeting on the new COVID-19 variant Omicron at 10:30 am. Tuesday.
Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan holds a review meeting with states on the recently identified Omicron variant of Covid-19 on Tuesday. The meeting comes just a day after the Centre announced on Monday no cases of the Omicron variant have been detected in the country at present but pointed out that two clusters in Maharashtra and Karnataka are under investigation.
On Sunday, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare also revised the international travel guidelines in view of this new coronavirus variant. According to an advisory issued by the Centre, the self-declaration board form on Air Suvidha Portal, which has the travel history of the last 14 days of all international travellers arriving in India, is filled completely before boarding. The new guidelines also said that airlines shall put in place a proper randomization process for testing about 5 per cent of the passengers in flights on arrival. “Additional RT-PCR facilities, as required, may also be set up at all airports,” it added.
The doctor, Dr Angelique Coetzee, who raised Omicron alarm bells says that the virus has been detected in younger people, under the age of 30, but they are not severely ill and “as of now, we don’t see the need for oxygen or ICU care”.
‘Omicron’, the new COVID variant first found in South Africa, and does not have the same symptoms one would normally see in the Delta variant.
Mild symptoms like fatigue and body ache have been reported but there are no complaints of stuffy noise and patients who contracted the new strain don’t seem to have high temperatures, she added.
Dr Angelique Coetzee, the chairperson of the South African Medical Association, said that people shouldn’t panic and see a doctor even if they suspect they have contracted ‘Omicron’. “These symptoms get better on their own,” she said.
Dr Coetzee said that she can say with some certainty that the new strain is at least just as transmissible as the Delta variant.
“We’re not disputing the transmissibility. It’s difficult for me to say it’s worse than Delta but it’s just as transmissible as the Delta variant at this stage. The scientists might tell you that it’s more and that’s fine. The fact is that it is transmissible and more than the beta variant,” she said.
She said that we will know within two weeks if the new strain is escaping vaccine immunity, whether it is causing reinfections, and how clinically bad it’s going to be. As of now, we don’t see the need for oxygen or ICU care but we will soon have an idea of how many infected people will need to be hospitalized, she added.
Pointing out that it’s not an African disease and has been detected the world over, she said we need to wait and see what’s going on before closing borders.
She said that ‘Omicron’ has been detected in younger people, under the age of 30, but they are not severely ill. “But it might change,” she cautions.
She does emphasize the urgent need to rapidly vaccinate and follow COVID appropriate behaviour, she said that vaccines don’t guarantee protection from this strain of the virus. “You need to vaccinate, you need to wear masks, and stay away from crowds. But people don’t really listen to what we are saying. There are no guarantees that if you take the vaccine, you are not going to get infected. It’s so that you don’t die, so that your condition doesn’t get severe,” she concluded.
Of note, USA and other nations are vaccinating children, and it is suggested by medical experts that children need to be vaccinated. Children at risk will be vaccinated next month said Dr NK Arora, Chairman of COVID Task Force, to NDTV: Like the vaccination in adults, a “prioritisation process is in place” for the country’s 44 crore children, and a list of comorbidities is being prepared, Dr NK Arora said.