Omicron Variant: 99% of Omicron patients are recovering in seven days, then why are doctors alert.

Posted on 4th Jan 2022 by rohit kumar

The cases of corona infection are increasing rapidly again across the country. In the last 24 hours, more than 37 thousand cases have been reported. During this, more than 100 corona patients have died. According to the latest data of the Union Health Ministry, 37,379 new cases of corona have been registered in the last 24 hours and 124 people have died due to corona. During this 11,007 recoveries have taken place. Right now the recovery rate is 98.13 percent. So far 1892 cases have been reported in the country of Omicron, out of which 766 people have been cured. So far the highest number of 568 cases have been reported from Maharashtra followed by 382 cases in Delhi. A total of 146.70 crore vaccine doses have been given so far under India's nationwide immunization campaign. Let us know why the government is so concerned about the prevention of the Omicron virus? Despite the fewer dangers of the Omicron virus, why is the government doing so much to prevent it? Is vaccination going on in India effective on Omicron? What does Yashoda Hospital MD PN Arora have to answer all these questions?

 

Why not a serious virus compared to Omicron variant delta?

 

Dr. Arora says that the Omicron variant stays in the neck for a long time. Because of this, it spreads rapidly. Therefore it spreads three times faster in the case of infection than the delta variant. He said that if we are not alert then this virus can catch people very fast. Although the threat is low, it will spread very fast. Dr. Arora said that it is not able to make its copy very fast in the lungs, so the patient does not reach the critical condition. He said that this is the reason why the variant spreads very rapidly but also leaves the body very rapidly like the delta variant.

 

Why in the world there is so much concern about Omicron?

 

See, Omicron was launched in India on 2nd December. The rate of corona infection in the country has increased almost three times in a week. He said that even though the severe symptoms of the virus may be less, but the high number of patients is a warning bell for us. According to estimates, 40-60 thousand patients may need to be hospitalized during the peak of the third wave. This can create a new challenge for our health infrastructure. This is the concern of the government as well. This variant is fast catching people in its grip. Because of record cases being reported in many countries, there is a concern.

 

Why is the government putting so much emphasis on vaccination?

 

Vaccination has played an effective role in preventing Omicron infection from becoming severe. The antibodies produced in the body by infection with Omicron protect against the risk of delta and other previous variants. This is also a good sign. Very few cases of infection are becoming serious. The US has reduced the quarantine requirement for infected people to five days. He said that now the situation is not like the year 2019. Now the situation has changed. A large population has faced the infection. The great feature of the human body is that it remembers past infections.

 

Is the screening process of Omicron complicated due to genome sequencing?

 

Dr. Arora said that during the peak of the second wave, about four lakh new cases were coming to India every day. Of these, about 25 thousand had to be admitted to the hospital. It is believed that due to Omicron, up to 16-20 lakh new cases can come daily. Of these, 40-60 thousand will have to be admitted to the hospital. When 40-60 thousand people have to be admitted to the hospital, then the situation can be dire. At present, fewer cases of Omicron are coming in government data, but the number of infected may increase. Since the detection of the variant requires genome sequencing and India has few labs for it. Because of this, the investigation is also decreasing and the figures are also coming less.

 

Why is vigilance necessary?

 

Omicron is a warning that if we are not alert, the corona will not be completely eradicated. Therefore, there is a need to strictly follow the guideline of the government. If we are careful about Omicron, a situation will come when the number of hospitalizations or deaths due to infection will be very less and the World Health Organization will exclude it from the category of a pandemic. It is too early to say at what stage the WHO will make such a decision. Preliminary research suggests that current vaccines are producing fewer antibodies than is the case with Omicron. Therefore, the challenge before scientists is to develop a more effective vaccine.

 

Serious patients like diabetes, hypertension, or TB should be aware?

 

Patients with serious illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension, or TB are taking slightly longer to recover from Omicron infection. The corona epidemic caused by the delta variant took seven to 10 days to recover. Some patients took longer to recover from the disease. Some Delta patients were negative for more than two months. Statistics show that in the case of the Omicron variant, the RT-PCR test of 92 percent of patients is coming negative within a week. At the same time, five percent of patients are found negative on the eighth day, while three percent of patients are found negative on the 9th day. Only one patient who also had TB disease was found positive for a long time.