India recorded a total of 33 cases of Omicronvariant on Sunday. The variant has around 50 mutations which was higher than any othervariant of covid-19. It still remains unclear whether booster doses of covidvaccine are successful against this variant or not. Omicron is said to be ahighly transmissible variant.
In India, Maharashtra is the most affected statewith a total of 17 cases. Delhi, Rajasthan,Gujarat and Karnataka have also reported cases of the new corona virus variant.On Saturday, Delhi reported its second case of omicron, a 35-year-old man,traveled from South Africa reported positive after returning to India. So far the variant has affected around 59countries around the world. At present, WHO is coordinating with a large numberof researchers to study about the variant.
As the number of cases is rapidly increasing in thecountry, the danger of the third wave in India is also increasing. The governmenthas issued guidelines to control the spread of the variant. Studiesare still in progress to understand the transmissibility, severity and risk ofthe variant.
WHO also issued guidelines for people to reduce therisk of spread of the disease. The government also urged the states and UTs to increasethe testing and closely monitor the situation of health system.
WHO Regional Director for South East Asia, Dr PoonamKhetrapal, said, “We cannot how deadly this new variant is or how it will affect us, but definitely, the things will be more uncertain”.
“Covid19 pandemic is still not over. The risk remainshigh globally after cases of Omicron reported in several parts of the world”,she added.
Dr Khetrapal, in exclusive conversation with NDTV, has also warned peoplesaying in the South Asia region, we must not let out guard down. We mustcontinue to strengthen surveillance, public health, and social measures, andrapidly scale up vaccination coverage.
Some of the health experts also said that it is theleniency of the governments that the people are not following the guidelines. Masksand proper sanitation is very essential to reduce the risk of spread of thedisease.
The total number of active cases in India is 92,281with 7,774 in the last 24 hours. A complete check on the health care system isrequired to tackle the upcoming situations.