The Omicron edition is galloping across the US and several countries in Europe at a pace never seen since the pandemic began. If the United States sets a new record of fresh cases in a single day with over 0.54 million cases on December 27, the seven-day average is 2,40,400 cases a day, up 60% from the previous week. ‘s growth. At least seven countries in Europe – the UK, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain – are seeing a similar trend this week. The number of reported COVID-19 cases globally increased by 11% in the last week (December 20-26) compared to the previous week, the World Health Organization said, while the number of new deaths remained the same as the previous week. But globally, the weekly new cases are close to surpassing the peak seen in the last week of April 2021, but the sharp increase in daily cases is not surprising given the highly contagious nature of the Omicron version. It is estimated that it spreads about three times faster than the highly permeable delta version. While Omicron has emerged as the dominant variant in some countries, it has not completely displaced the Delta variant. Two types of double threats are responsible for fresh cases reaching record numbers in many countries. The Omicron version has a better ability to cause breakthrough infection in fully vaccinated people and may also cause reinfection in those already infected. Preliminary data from South Africa and the United Kingdom suggest an underestimation of the risk of severe disease, particularly requiring hospitalization in fully vaccinated and already infected people. But it is still too early to draw conclusions because there is an inevitable lag between infection and hospitalization, and the protection offered by vaccines against Omicron in older and other vulnerable populations is still unclear.
India is witnessing a rise in cases in many states. As in the case of the first two waves, the increase in cases is currently being seen in larger cities. The total number of Omicron type cases reported in India is close to 1,300 and has already been reported from 22 states. There is no reason to believe that the variant will behave differently in India. The highly transmissible nature of the variant and its potential to cause breakthrough infection and reinfection, and the fact that people with no travel history or contact with international travelers have tested positive for the virus, prompt policy makers to take the omicron threat seriously. should be alerted to. The first step to address this concern is to increase the daily test numbers and adopt a dual RT-PCR testing strategy – testing all positive samples with a S-gene targeting kit before sequencing for oomicron detection. India should not repeat the mistakes made during the second wave by allowing the virus to spread widely.
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