A World Health Organization (WHO) official on Thursday said that Omicron cases should not be dismissed as mild as it appears to be spreading faster than any other variants of concern. Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia said that emerging data shows an increased risk of re-infection with Omicron, adding that more data is required to reach firm conclusions.
“Based on the current limited evidence, Omicron appears to be spreading faster at a rate not seen with any other previous variant. Emerging data from South Africa suggest an increased risk of re-infection with Omicron, but more data are needed to draw firmer conclusions,” Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia said in an interview to ANI.
Dr Singh cautioned about the virulence of the new variant that is rapidly spreading across the world, raising concerns for health authorities. She stressed that the overall threat posed by Omicron depends on the transmissibility, immune escape ability and virulence of the strain.
Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh said that so far there is limited data on the clinical severity associated with Omicron and added that more information is required to fully understand the clinical scenario of those infected with the variant.
“We should not dismiss Omicron as mild. Even if Omicron does cause less severe disease, the sheer number of cases could once again overwhelm health systems,” Singh added.
Citing preliminary data, she said the vaccines may have reduced effectiveness against Omicron, however, adding that it will take ‘a few more weeks’ to fully assess the efficacy of Covid vaccines against the new variant.
She added that vaccines alone won’t help countries come out of the pandemic and other proven public health and social measures must be followed.
India has, so far, reported over 70 cases of the new variant, with the largest number of cases coming from Maharashtra (32), Rajasthan (17) and Gujarat (4).
UK has recorded its highest daily coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, suspected to be driven by Omicron, as 78,610 fresh Covid cases were reported.
WHO’s top scientist Soumya Swaminathan, meanwhile has told NDTV, that the Omicron wave could have been prevented if we had used the tools that we have equitably around the world.
“We had enough vaccines to vaccinate people around the world. Perhaps we could have reduced the chances of this happening,” she said in an interview.
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