India Needs To Fight Omicron And Covid's Third Wave With Positivity And Planning

As it was anticipated the Omicron variant has taken over the world - with advanced countries like the USA seeing over 10 lakh daily new infections reported mostly from Omicron.

Also Read: Omicron Surge: 10 Indian States Projected To Be Worst-Hit By Rising Covid-19 Cases

The variant first detected less than two months ago in South Africa, has taken over the whole world at an astounding pace. This happened despite all efforts in travel restrictions, vaccinations, and curfews - showing that COVID-19 is a virus that is perhaps the most agile and dangerous humankind has ever encountered.

AFP

Also Read: Omicron-Led Third Wave May Peak by Jan-end With Daily Cases Touching 10 Lakh: Study

As feared Omicron has set its grip on India too and the trends show that it will be a matter of at most 2 weeks when it reaches its peak. The good news is that Omicron is certainly not as deadly as Delta and the bad news is that it spreads four times as fast. So while serious illness would be less, but the number of people falling sick in a short span of time would be alarmingly high.

We have also fairly secured the biggest crisis which saw in April 2021 - as most hospitals are well supplied with oxygen and we certainly know that things like Remdesivir and Plasma do not work and should not be chased after. All this new reality of the virus and our experience so far mandates us to have a fresh look at our strategy in dealing with this incoming crisis.

Indiatimes

The biggest impact of Omicron, as being seen in countries that are at the peak of their surge, is that it leaves a large population infected in a short span of time. People who are infected have to be under quarantine for 1-2 weeks - which means a large proportion of the workforce suddenly goes sick and unavailable. It means we can suddenly face a period of 2-3 weeks of Omicron surge when the number of doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers, police personnel, truck drivers, store managers, factory workers, and sanitation workers may be significantly reduced.

This will put great pressure on managing the supply chain of essential goods - food and medicine, and essential services like healthcare, especially in smaller cities and towns of India. The period may be short-lived, but can be very painful for the population if nothing is done to prepare for it. But the hopeful news is that it can be avoided if we act now and fight it like a war.

Also Read: Omicron Variant Might Have Come From Covid-19 Mutation In Mice, Claim Scientists

Reuters

Firstly, we need to control hoarding. We saw how critical supplies were hoarded by both, panicked citizens and criminal black marketers. Every district needs to be immediately asked to prepare its contingency program to clamp hoarding and ensure excess capacity in the supply chain before the surge comes. It may need to identify priority food items, medical items, and services whose movement needs to be tracked immediately. These district plans should be placed under the control of the Collectors and their solpe task for the next one month should be to implement them. At the state level, a pool of extra resources and personnel should be kept ready for those districts which are hit the worst.

Also Read: 73-Year-Old Rajasthan Man Who Died Of COVID Is The First Case Of Omicron-Related Death In India

Secondly, we need to bolster the health infrastructure at the smaller town level. Omicron may be less lethal but it is going to put a lot of pressure on hospitals especially when those with co-morbidities and the elderly are caught with it. We need to ensure that only those who need it occupy beds, ensure that beds are allotted under some parameters and as per urgency and not recommendation(write --????? ?? ???? ?? ??? ???? ?? ?? ??????? ?? ???? ??). People in smaller towns should be able to find any urgent medical need within their towns and must not have to rush into big cities for treatment. For this, we need to do a medical supply and oxygen audit of small-town hospitals right away.

PTI

Thirdly, the key to winning against Omicron is to minimize the peak. That means, we need to curb exposure to the virus whenever we can. We must be prepared to postpone all examinations until the end of February, we need to be very cautious with rallies, ceremonies, and gatherings.

Also Read: Rising Omicron Cases Could Lead To More Dangerous Variants Of COVID: What WHO Said

Fourthly, we need to instill hope. Pandemics towards their end, become extremely fast in spreading and also become less deadly. It is exactly what we are seeing in the case of Omicron - and there is every chance that the end of COVID-19 is very close but we need to win this wave. History tells us, a hundred years ago, when the Spanish Flu engulfed the world and killed up to 10 crore people, it came in exactly three major waves. Its third wave was similar to our Omicron - we must draw positivity from it and fight this third war with the mission to permanently finish off COVID-19.

Reuters

Our citizens have endured a lot in the second wave caused by the Delta variant in 2021. But the Delta variant came without warning and hit us hard. This is not true for Omicron. This third wave has come with all the warnings and gives us time to prepare. To use the opportunity to prepare for it and reduce the pain of the people is our utmost responsibility and nothing else should be more important.

About the author: Srijan Pal Singh is an IIM Ahmedabad graduate and was the Advisor for Policy and Technology to Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, 11th President of India. He co-authored the books Reignited, Target 3 Billion and Advantage India with Dr. Kalam. He is the CEO of Kalam Centre. Views expressed here are author's alone.