Rising new Omicron variants
New, emerging variants of the Omicron have sparked attention once again and people are being reminded that COVID is not yet wiped out, even though most of Omicron infections reported are milder and less serious, compared to the previous COVID variants.
On Tuesday, India reported its first case of Omicron BQ.1 in Maharashtra. The Omicron strain is a fast-spreading variant and people can get easily infected even with limited exposure to the virus.
Maharashtra has also reported India's first case of XBB. This is a recombinant lineage between two Omicron sublineages BJ.1 and BA.2.75.
Ex-AIIMS Director cautions against the variant
Dr Randeep Guleria, the former director of AIIMS, Delhi, cautioned that this new variant “has a tendency to mutate that will continue,” speaking to news agency ANI, he added that now “the situation is different.”
“Earlier, there was no vaccination, but people are now vaccinated also. But this doesn't mean that people will stop taking precautions, festival season is coming up and cases are also rising," he explained further.
Advice for elderly at risk
Experts are predicting a rise in COVID cases in the coming winter season, especially in the festive Diwali environment.
Dr Guleria urged high-risk groups and elderly people to avoid going out due to prevent getting infected.
“If you're going out and especially in crowded places then you must wear a mask. High-risk groups, elderly people should avoid going out because there are high chances of spreading infection,” he said.
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Infections will mostly be mild
On the bright side, the health expert said that the chances of hospitalisation and ICU admissions are low.
Sharing the dominant symptoms at present, he said, “This time there will be a mild infection, fever, cold, cough and body ache, the chances of recovery are within 3-4 days, usually, in this season, viral fever is reported due to COVID also."
Government's take on new variants
Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday chaired a review meeting on the Coronavirus situation in the country. It was decided in the meeting that the rule on masks and COVID-appropriate behavior will continue across India.
The health minister also directed officials to focus on the effective implementation of surveillance strategy along with strengthening genome sequencing for early detection of variants.
Maharashtra's health department and experts have also asked people to not ignore flu-like symptoms and seek medical advice soon. They have advised observing COVID-appropriate behaviour in public places and getting vaccinated as per Government of India guidelines.
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Latest COVID count
According to the data updated by the Union Health Ministry on Friday, India saw a single-day rise of 2,119 new infections, taking the Coronavirus tally to 4,46,38,636. The number of active cases has declined to 25,037.
The data updated at 8 am stated that the death count has risen to 5,28,953, with 10 fatalities which includes five deaths reconciled by Kerala.
The active cases comprise 0.06 per cent of the total infections. The health ministry said that the national COVID-19 recovery rate has increased to 98.76 per cent.