January-February May See Omicron Surge, But Cases May Be Mild, Says Report

India is likely to see a spike in Omicron cases in January-February 2022 as it is likely to spread quicker than the Delta strain, according to a senior official source as per TOI. However, he said that the infections are expected to be mild.

The spike has been predicted after several studies were conducted and the source said there should be no reason to panic because COVID seems to be coming close to a stage of endemicity where transmissibility will remain high but no severe disease will be caused.

WHO says Omicron is spreading at a rate like never before and is possibly already present in a majority of the countries, though only 77 have reported cases.

PTI

What WHO said

WHO¡¯s latest brief on Omicron says it is likely that it will outpace Delta in areas where community transmission takes place. The Delta variant is still a problem all over the world.

¡°We need to work on controlling Omicron¡¯s transmissibility,¡± the official said.

WHO¡¯s latest brief on Omicron says it is likely that it will outpace Delta in areas where community transmission takes place. The Delta variant is still a problem all over the world.

PTI

Health officials in India may that while a surge of Omicron cases is expected, the infections are not likely to leave the healthcare system in a helpless situation.

¡°Our efforts are focused at 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 the vaccine, there is no cause for worry,¡± the official added.

The Centre has asked states to focus on containment measures to limit transmission and ramp up coverage of double doses of vaccine.

PTI

One of the biggest concerns, when it comes to the Omicron variant is will it make the current vaccines which were developed for earlier strains, ineffective.

What task force chief said

India's COVID Task Force chief VK Paul said there is a potential scenario that "our vaccines may become ineffective in emerging situations" and emphasised the need to be ready to modify the vaccines as per requirement.

PTI

"We have experienced Delta shock and now the Omicron shock... there is a potential scenario that our vaccines may become ineffective in emerging situations in the wake of the last three weeks of living with Omicron, we have seen how such doubts have come up, some of them may be genuine, we still don't have the final picture," he said.

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