Days after the Union Health Ministry claimed that certain States in the country had reported early sign of Covid cases plateauing, the World Health Organisation(WHO) cautioned India not to drop the guard since the risk of Covid-19 remained high and no country, irrespective of their current transmission scenario, is “out of the woods” yet.
“By becoming endemic doesn’t mean that the virus will not be a cause of concern,” said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia Region, on Saturday. She advised that authorities should concentrate on reducing transmission and implementing situation-specific measures.
However, vaccines still seem to remain highly effective at protecting people against serious illness, hospitalisation, and death, she said, adding that vaccines were effective in reducing the likelihood of severe disease caused by the Omicron variant.
With 2,35,532 people testing positive for the coronavirus infection in a day, India’s total tally of cases increased to over 4.08 crore,
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WHO: Covid risk still high, no country out of woods yet
according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Saturday.
On 21 January, the country reported a total of 3,47,254 new Covid-19 cases after which the daily infection count has been reducing. A decline in Covid cases and positivity rate have been especially observed in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Odisha, Haryana, and West Bengal.
Asked if the pandemic is entering in endemic stages, Singh said, “Currently, we are still in the midst of the pandemic and the focus should be to curtail the virus spread and save lives”.
Compared to the Covid-19’s Delta variant, she said Omicron is able to more rapidly infect the tissues of the upper respiratory tract rather than the lungs, which may also help the spread of this variant.
“There appears to be a lower risk of severe disease and death following Omicron infection as compared to other variants. However, due to the very high numbers of cases, many countries have seen a significant increase in the incidence of hospitalization, putting pressure on healthcare systems,” she said.
Data suggests that infection with Omicron may be associated with a lower risk of hospitalization compared to infection with Delta, Singh said, but noted that the severity of illness increases with age and in the presence of underlying medical conditions and among people who are not vaccinated.
She stressed on the need to rapidly accelerate efforts to vaccinate all at-risk populations in all countries.
“There is growing evidence on vaccine effectiveness for Omicron, but we still have a lot to learn. So far, we think that vaccines are less effective against Omicron infection and symptomatic disease compared to Delta. Having a booster shot seems to increase protection,” she said.
Singh said the emergence of Omicron means that the protective behaviours remain critical such as keeping a safe distance from others, avoiding crowds, wearing a well-fitted mask covering mouth and nose, cleaning hands regularly, keeping indoor spaces well ventilated, and covering coughs and sneezes.