Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Warning that the number of daily Covid-19 cases being reported from the UK and France could translate to 13-14 lakh cases in proportion to India’s population, top government authorities on Friday sought a fresh reset of measures to keep infections under control.
During the peak of the Delta wave in early May, India had reported over 4 lakh cases daily before the numbers started declining swiftly.
The UK on Friday reported over 93,000 fresh cases while in France this number was above 65,000. Denmark and Norway, too, are reporting a massive surge in daily infections after Omicron fuelled the wave.
Worryingly, these spikes are being reported despite a high coverage of Covid vaccinations and history of previous major waves, driven by Delta.
V K Paul, member (health) Niti Aayog and head of India’s national Covid-19 task force said in a press briefing by the Union health ministry that even though hospitalisations in Europe so far are low and there is no pressure on the health infrastructure, the situation is dynamic.
“We have to be ready to face such a situation with such high numbers. Cold weather also leads to the breeding of the virus. Cases surge overnight and it becomes serious. Though the situation is stable, we must be cautious,” he said.
Citing WHO’s advisory, authorities urged people not to dismiss off Omicron cases as mild as the evidence is still emerging.
So far, 101 Omicron cases have been confirmed from 11 states in India with the highest, 32, in Maharashtra alone.
Lav Agarwal, joint secretary in the health ministry, said most of the cases have been confirmed either in people with direct history of international travel or their contacts, adding the evidence of its community transmission in India is low.
Giving details of Omicron cases in India, he said Maharashtra has reported 32 cases of the variant, Delhi 22, Rajasthan 17, Karnataka and Telangana eight each, Gujarat and Kerala five each, and Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal one each.
ICMR head Balram Bhargava urged people to avoid non-essential travel and mass gatherings and to observe low intensity festivities.
“As the Omicron variant is spreading very fast across Europe and most parts of the world, there is a need to avoid non-essential travel and mass gatherings and keep festivities low-key.
New Year celebrations have to be low-key,” ICMR Director-General Dr Balram Bhargava said.
He stressed that districts that have over five per cent positivity rate need to ensure restrictive measures until it comes below 5 per cent and stays such for at least two weeks.
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Asked if India is carrying out adequate genomic sequencing, NITI Aayog member (Health) Dr V K Paul said sufficient systematic strategic sampling is being undertaken for genomic sequencing to detect Omicron cases.
India is carrying out the “second-highest” number of genomic sequencing in the world and it is being further intensified, he said and underscored that genomic sequencing of every sample is not possible.
“It is a surveillance and pandemic assessment and tracking tool, not a diagnostic tool as of now.”
The government has taken comprehensive and far-reaching measures to prevent the ingress of Omicron through restrictions and monitoring of incoming passengers.
The system has been further streamlined and the genomic surveillance has been intensified, he said.
“The overall situation is stable. In some districts the positivity rate is increasing and if needed restrictive measures should be implemented. There should be proper contact tracing and containment measures should be implemented. Clusters should be investigated to see if the new variant is driving the rise in cases there,” Paul said.
On whether the Omicron variant is at the community transmission level, Agarwal said, “We cannot at this point say that Omicron variant is widespread in India. Most cases of Omicron have a travel history or had contacts with those who have travel histories.”
“There are one or two cases in which we have not been able to establish any such history but the process is still on.”
Referring to WHO, the joint secretary said Omicron is spreading faster in South Africa than the Delta variant.
Omicron spread will likely outpace Delta where community transmission occurs, he said quoting WHO.
“Omicron is spreading at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant. We are concerned that people are dismissing Omicron as mild,” Agarwal said quoting the WHO director-general.
“The sheer number of cases could once again overwhelm unprepared health systems. Vaccines alone will not get any country out of this crisis. Masks, physical distancing, ventilation and hand hygiene should be followed along with vaccines.” he said.
In most countries, those being hospitalized and dying are the unvaccinated.
So, the priority must be to inoculate the unvaccinated, Agarwal said.
About the COVID-19 situation in India, the government said that 19 districts are reporting weekly positivity between five and 10 per cent and in five districts it is over 10 per cent.
India has so far administered 82.8 crore first doses and 53.72 crore second jabs of Covid vaccine.
More than 136 crore doses have been administered in the country which is 2.8 times the total doses administered in the US, it said.
Agarwal said there is no evidence to suggest that vaccines are not effective against Omicron.
Asked about booster dose, Paul said, “This time around vaccine resources, broadly speaking, are in a good shape. We are engaging with our scientific community to look at these issues on an ongoing basis.”
“We will opt for this (booster dose) with appropriate evidence at an appropriate time. But this comes after we provide primary vaccination coverage to the maximum possible population. That remains the foremost goal,” he said.
With elections due in some states, Paul said, “Guidelines have been issued which apply to all sections of the society. The context of election is visible to the leadership and the government and it is being factored in as we move forward with the pandemic response.”
Asked if mRNA vaccines are more effective as boosters, Bhargava said, “The scientific understanding as of now is that antibody response with mRNA vaccine is higher than the ones we are using in India, this is the initial response.”
“But the fall is also faster than the ones we are using. There is science to say that mix and match of doses can be given and that is being debated. We have seen that with mRNA vaccines in Israel, Germany and Argentina people have got Omicron infection after the third dose.”
(With PTI Inputs)
