According to Adalja, it has been established that this new variant has been able to avoid some of the immunity provided by prior infection in vaccines and is therefore very contagious. It also appears to be less severe than prior variants too. Adalja also observed that there appeared to be less need for supplemental oxygen with Omicron versus other variants.In the national capital, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital in central Delhi was designated as the dedicated hospital to treat those who have been tested with Omicron. The MD of the hospital, Dr Suresh Kumar said they have seen more than 200 cases of Omicron so far of which a majority of them were asymptomatic.“More than half of those detected with the Omicron variant in the hospital did not have symptoms. In 30% of the patients with symptoms, we have commonly seen weakness, body aches in several patients with Omicron. A few patients had pain in the throat, runny nose, mild cough and low grade fever. In children who had Omicron variant of Covid-19, we saw that they had pain in the abdomen and diarrhea,” pointed out Suresh.Majority of those admitted at LNJP Hospital with the Omicron variant did not need oxygen support and cytokine storm was not observed in any of the patients, observed Suresh. A cytokine storm is, according to medical journals, a severe immune reaction in which the body releases too many cytokines into the blood too quickly. Cytokines storm occurs when the body, in an attempt to kill the virus, attacks its own cells and tissues.
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