Omicron is not fatal but India should be prepared for third wave: Top health expert

Hyderabad : Though the world awaits more information on the new COVID variant Omicron, India should be prepared to fight a possible “third wave” which may be caused by the emerging variant keeping in mind its high transmissibility but possibly low fatality, according to a health expert.
Speaking to ANI on Saturday, Executive Director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bibinagar, Dr Vikas Bhatia, talking about the helpfulness of the Hybrid immunity in the possible wave, said, “It is very difficult to predict because, and even at this point of time when more than 30 countries have reported one or more cases, we are still waiting for some more information. So, in this phase, we should be preparing ourselves that a third wave may come but at the same time, it may be good news in case we find that this particular virus Omicron is not very fatal. So far no death has been reported from any part of the world.” “It might be a mild disease. It is possibly being observed in some countries such as South Africa that the gap between the infection and the manifestation of the disease is a little longer. And when it is longer than the Delta virus, it is likely to be transmitting and infecting more and more people. Now in case, the transmission rate is high, but its killing power is low, then it can transmit and generate immunity among the people,” he added.
Dr Bhatia said that if oxygen levels decline due to Omicorn variant, then that would be a concern but he believes that due to the ongoing nationwide vaccination programme, it should not be a problem.
“Decline in the oxygen levels and the case fatality rates, they are our main concern. If those concern us more, we should not be bothering too much about the transmission of the disease. Because the vaccination programme is also going on,” he said.
The Executive Director highlighted “Hybrid immunity” as “protection” against Omicron and said, “When we talk about hybrid in relation to the COVID it means we are talking about the immunity which has been acquired through the infection and immunity which has been acquired through the vaccination. When these two work together we call it a hybrid.”