Top infectious disease expert Dr. Faheem Yunus warned on Wednesday that for those who are taking lightly the threat of the latest Omicron version, things could be gloomy. Dr Yunus rejected the idea that omicron “Best Vaccine”.
“Please don’t fall for it. Wear a mask and avoid gathering. In a few weeks this wave will subside,” said the chief of infectious diseases at the University of Maryland.
“You can/could prevent this infection,” he says.
“100% ventilators in my hospitals are being used by COVID patients today. Take off the mask Encouraged. Avoid gatherings,” he added.
The Omicron variant accounted for 95% of the new coronavirus infections last week, according to the latest estimates from US health officials.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted its latest estimates on Tuesday. CDC uses genomic surveillance data to estimate which versions of the COVID-19 virus are causing the most new infections.
The latest estimates suggest a dramatic swing – in just one month – to which version of the coronavirus is most abundant. In late June, the Delta variant was the main cause of US infection. The CDC said more than 99.5% of coronaviruses were deltas as recently as the end of November.
And in the UK, official figures show that one in 15 people in England were infected with the virus in the last week of 2021.
Meanwhile, Italy’s government said on Wednesday it would make vaccination against Covid-19 mandatory from February 15 for all people over the age of 50 – nearly half of its population – in its bid to fight the rising infection.
France on Wednesday set a record for new Covid cases in a 24-hour period, with more than 332,000 additional infections recorded, according to the latest official figures.
India Thursday saw the biggest single-day jump of 495 omicron cases, taking the total number of infections of the new version of the coronavirus to 2,630, according to data from the Union Health Ministry.
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