A 10 percent increase in Omicron variant is observed in 30 percent of the 77 countries where it has already spread.
Omicron variant has spread in the last two months and preliminary data shows that one infected person can spread it to four people. This means that the transmissibility is 1.5 more than delta variant. The genome sequencing data is of 56,000 samples of which maximum numbers are from United Kingdom, Dutch and other parts of Europe. Of the 56,000 samples there are 2104 positive for Omicron.
In Asia and South East Asia, the genome sequencing is low when compared to UK and Europe. For this reason, the exact numbers are not known. Healthcare experts fear that is already in the community and booster doses must be given to protect those who were vaccinated in the first wave of Covid 19.
Indian Medical Association national body is also asking the government for booster doses for healthcare and emergency workers, senior citizens and those suffering from co-morbid conditions like diabetes, hypertension, kidney problems, cancers and others.
Dr Kiran Madhala, senior government doctor in Telangana explained, “There are three factors which are of concern, transmission is higher than delta, immune escape is high and severity of the disease is not yet known. This means that if it spreads it has the ability of high infection, re-infections in those who were infected and breakthrough in those who are vaccinated. For this reason, booster doses are important.”
The healthcare workers are the highly exposed segment and they want that it must be officially inculcated by the government.
India has administered 68 lakh doses in the last 24 hours and there are 134.61 crore people vaccinated. There were 6,984 new cases reported in the last 24 hours according to Government of India.
With two cases of Omicron found in Telangana, India now stands at 25 cases in the country.
Emerging situation in South Africa:
African region has reported 1,67,000 new cases since early August 2021. This is a 111 percent jump in new cases. The changing scene in the country from delta to omicron is causing concern in the world.
Other parts of the World:
There is delta and delta plus raging in Europe and samples tested in United Kingdom show 3.25 percent presence of Omicron. United States of America is 1.81 percent in their tested samples. Both Europe and USA are showing 10 percent increase in new cases compared to new cases of last week. In South East Asia, there is a 18 percent increase in new cases of Covid 19 compared to last week cases.
