The real fear is that people are becoming complacent, says Dr Soumya Swaminathan
New Delhi:
WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said that the biggest challenge before India amid the omicron crisis will be the sudden need for medical care. “The increase is going to be very rapid and a lot of people are going to get sick,” she warned with a new type of concern already driving cases around the world.
Swaminathan said the Omicron outbreak, which has sparked new concerns globally and raised an alarm, will shift the burden from hospitals to ICUs to home-based care.
“People are worried. You may not have symptoms, but you might want to talk to a doctor, you might want to see a health worker, and you want advice. We have to prepare for that,” she said.
The global health body’s chief scientist called for an urgent increase in teleconsultation services to tackle the omicron-fueled boom. “Maybe, it is time to really increase telehealth and telemedicine services to ensure that we have enough doctors and nurses in out-patient clinics; make sure we are at home or primary as much as possible. can treat people at care isolation centres. Where they get basic care when they don’t need advance care,” she said.
“The full burden of this outbreak will be more on outpatients and home-based services, rather than ICUs and hospital beds for the critically ill.”
However, the real fear is that people are becoming complacent and mistaking this type as a common cold and there is nothing to worry about, he cautioned.
“I don’t think we can draw that conclusion at this stage,” Dr Swaminathan said as he underlined the dangers of complacency that stems from the common belief that omicron infections are mild.
“We’ve seen a lot of data coming mainly from South Africa and the UK. What South Africa has shown is that the number of cases they experienced with Omicron was four times higher than with Delta and other booms . It’s that much more permeable,” she said.
“The actual number in previous outbreaks during the peak was 40,000 and during the omicron it was about 140,000. But at the same time, the risk of hospitalization was a quarter. So, it becomes equal to – four times The more communicable, the one-fourth the risk of hospitalization. You end up with the same number of people in hospitals,” she said.
But according to the senior health expert, everything is not bleak.
“Once a person is in hospital for any reason – because of comorbidities or having to see them – it has been found that there is an increased risk of becoming very seriously ill, requiring critical care and ventilation, or actually dying,” says Omicron. was much less as compared to other types,” she told NDTV.
But, the low risk of serious infections and deaths doesn’t mean doctors, hospitals, out-patient departments, health care workers and infrastructure won’t be overwhelmed, he said, adding that governments should be prepared for the eventuality.
India has so far reported over 1,200 cases of the Omicron variant along with Delhi and Mumbai.
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