Bengaluru: India has reported a total of 33 cases of Omicron. Some experts have warned that Omicron will spread faster than the old variants of Covid.
Dr.Vishal Rao, expert doctor of the Karnataka State Genomic Sequence Committee says, "Coronavirus took about two weeks to enter the body during the first wave. The Delta variant in the second wave took 7 days but Omicron may need just 3 days to enter the human body".
"Delta entered India in October 2020 but the second wave hit in March 2021. The Positivity Rate of 0.5 percent in the first week of March rose to 5 percent at the end of March. The positivity rate crossed 25% at the end of April. Omicron, which has now entered the country, could increase the positivity rate in half its time", he said.
"The month of December is most important. We have to take careful steps. We will be safe only if the positivity rate remains below 2% even after we cross December and enter the first two weeks of January but if the positive rate rises from 2 to 5%, then the alarm bell must ring,"
"State Genomic Sequence Committee is on high alert. We are fast in detecting omicron positive-negative status and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike is super-fast in tracing primary contacts of infected persons. Every state should need to do this kind of work. We can curb the Omicron cases only if we take necessary steps in its initial stage," Dr. Vishal Rao said further.
"According to WHO, Omicron has reached 57 nations in the world. Denmark's omicron cases jumped from 4 to 400 cases within a week where 95% of the adult population got vaccinated but no one was hospitalized as they took the Covid vaccine. So vaccine is the first protection and defensive weapon for us. Give more attention to wearing masks, getting vaccinated, and washing hands," he said.
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