With the world battling Omicron, IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath held out a ray of hope on Thursday as she said the new variant is expected to be the dominant version over the next one month but is less severe than Delta, which caused mayhem during the second wave.
Speaking to CNBC TV18, Gopinath said: “The high number of cases can impact medical centres. Travel restrictions could be imposed if Omicron spreads faster. We need the whole world to get vaccinated or you will keep getting new variants of Covid-19.”
The economist’s statement comes amid concerns across the globe about the new variant which is highly transmissible. WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Tuesday flagged that 77 countries have so far reported cases of Omicron. He said that Omicron is spreading at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant and expressed concern that people are dismissing the strain as mild. “Even if Omicron does cause less severe disease, the sheer number of cases could once again overwhelm unprepared health systems,” the WHO chief said.
Dr Anurag Agrawal, director, Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), too said it is good to hope that what has been true for South Africa should be true for India, but even mild viruses have the capability of bringing the entire healthcare system to its knees.
What’s prudent is that India should hope for the best but prepare for the worst, he said. “It is too early to conclude anything on Omicron at least before the end of December,” he said.
Meanwhile, on the issue of cryptocurrency, Gopinath said an outright ban is difficult to execute. “We need an urgent global standard on how to deal with cryptocurrency. We need regulation on cryptocurrency as it is not a global threat as of now.”
Top sources told CNN-News18 that the cryptocurrency bill may not be introduced in the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament and the government would consider bringing in a law to ensure consumer protection, which is the highest priority.
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