New Delhi: Amid concerns over Omicron variant of Coronavirus in India, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Monday cautioned of an impending third wave in the country due to this new variant.
Talking to ETV Bharat in an exclusive interview, IMA president Dr JA Jayalal said that there is an impending threat of third wave of Covid19 in India due to Omicron.
"Absolutely with the evidence available with the western countries and the countries which have been affected by Omicron, we believe an impending third wave is there in our country. However, the central and state government have geared up to face the situation," Dr Jayalal said.
He said that the process of vaccination should be expedited in India "as this is the only option to fight all variants of Covid19,"
"As this is an infectious disease and spreads from one person to another, we need to cut short mass gatherings sand unnecessary travelling," Dr Jayalal said.
He informed that till date, 25 cases of Omicron have been detected in India. "In the next few days, there will be more cases," he added.
The IMA president said that Omicron spreads faster than Delta variant of Covid19. "The symptoms remain weakness, pain, headache but not severity."
He further said that as the children could be more in danger zone due to the Omicron variant, government should ensure that the children under the age of 18 years get the Covid19 vaccines at the earliest.
Meanwhile, in an interesting development Indian SARS-CoV-2- Genomics Sequencing Consortium (INSACOG) in its latest weekly bulletin said that it has not recommended or gave suggestion for booster dose of Covid19 in the national immunisation programme.
"In view of the emerging evidence from South Africa and other countries about its (Omicron's) ability to evade immunity from previous infection with Covid variants and consequently risk of reinfection with it, there was a discussion about the potential role of additional dose of the Covid19 vaccines in high risk populations. However, this was not a recommendation or suggestion for booster dose," the INSACOG clarified.
It may be mentioned here that in its November 29 bulletin, the INSACOG has recommended consideration of a booster dose for those 40 years of age and over, since low levels of neutralising antibodies from current vaccines are unlikely to be sufficient to neutralise Omicron.
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