The WHO says that the threat posed by Omicron rests on 3 key questions. read here

Omicron spreads faster than Delta

“From what we know so far, Omicron appears to be spreading faster than delta The variant that has been attributed to the increase in cases across the world over the past several months,” said Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director, WHO South-East Asia Region.

Emerging data from South Africa suggest an increased risk of re-infection with Omicron, he said, adding that there is still limited data on the clinical severity associated with Omicron.

He said more information is needed to fully understand the clinical picture of people infected with Omicron.

Omicron should not be dismissed as mild

Omicron should not be dismissed lightly. “Even if it causes less severe disease, the sheer number of cases could once again overwhelm health systems.”

Therefore, there is a need to review the health care capacity including ICU beds, oxygen availability, adequate health care staff and augmentation capacity and strengthen it at all levels, he emphasized.

“We must continue to do all this. Protect yourself and protect each other. Get vaccinated, wear a mask, keep your distance, open windows, clean your hands and cough and sneeze safely. After taking a dose of vaccine Keep taking all precautions too,” Singh said.

The effectiveness of vaccines against Omicron likely to be low

According to preliminary data, Vaccines The effectiveness against infection may have been reduced by the Omicron variant. “However, studies are underway to better understand the extent to which Omicron can evade vaccine and/or infection-derived immunity and to what extent existing vaccines continue to protect against Omicron-associated serious illness and death. are,” she said.

Globally, the pandemic is driven by the delta variant, against which vaccines provide a strong level of protection against serious illness, hospitalization, and death. Therefore, efforts to increase vaccination coverage should continue, the WHO official said.

“Vaccines are an important tool in our fight against the pandemic, but, as we know, vaccines alone will not bring any country out of this pandemic. We must increase vaccination as well as implement public health and social measures, which have proven to be important to limit the transmission of COVID-19 and reduce deaths,” Singh said.

Countries can and should stop the spread of Omicron

With cases of the new COVID-19 type Omicron confirmed in seven countries in the South-East Asia region, the WHO today stressed an urgent scale-up of public health and social measures to prevent its further spread.

Singh said that with proven health and social measures, countries can and should stop the spread of Omicron.

“Our focus should be on protecting the least protected and those at high risk,” she said in a statement.

(with inputs from agencies)