India recorded a total of 33 cases of Omicron
variant on Sunday. The variant has around 50 mutations which was higher than any other
variant of covid-19. It still remains unclear whether booster doses of covid
vaccine are successful against this variant or not. Omicron is said to be a
highly transmissible variant.
In India, Maharashtra is the most affected state
with 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 59
countries around the world. At present, WHO is coordinating with a large number
of researchers to study about the variant.
As the number of cases is rapidly increasing in the
country, the danger of the third wave in India is also increasing. The government
has issued guidelines to control the spread of the variant. Studies
are still in progress to understand the transmissibility, severity and risk of
the variant.
WHO also issued guidelines for people to reduce the
risk of spread of the disease. The government also urged the states and UTs to increase
the testing and closely monitor the situation of health system.
WHO Regional Director for South East Asia, Dr Poonam
Khetrapal, 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 remains
high globally after cases of Omicron reported in several parts of the world”,
she added.
Dr Khetrapal, in exclusive conversation with NDTV, has also warned people
saying in the South Asia region, we must not let out guard down. We must
continue to strengthen surveillance, public health, and social measures, and
rapidly scale up vaccination coverage.
Some of the health experts also said that it is the
leniency of the governments that the people are not following the guidelines. Masks
and proper sanitation is very essential to reduce the risk of spread of the
disease.
The total number of active cases in India is 92,281
with 7,774 in the last 24 hours. A complete check on the health care system is
required to tackle the upcoming situations.