The world's first corona case was reported in China on 17 November 2019. Exactly 75 days after this i.e. on 30 January 2020, Corona had knocked in India. Once again, due to the BA.2 variant of Omicron in China, a lockdown has been imposed in 19 states. Here active cases have increased from 5280 to 16974 in the last 4 days. The BA.2 variant of Corona is being described as Stealth Omicron.
Shanghai Fudan University, which has already made accurate claims about Covid 3 times, released the report on March 15. It was told that 'Stealth Omicron' is responsible for the sudden increase in cases in China. If the cases continue to increase at this speed, then China may go through the fourth wave of Corona.
What is 'Stealth Omicron' and how much impact can it have in India? Should people who have forgotten Corona become alert after the end of the third wave in the country? Dr. Mridul Mehrotra, an immunologist at SGPGI, Lucknow, and a member of the Indian Association of Pathology, has answered our questions.
Question 1: What is Stealth Omicron, how deadly can it be?
Answer: Corona is an RNA virus. It has the property of antigenic shift and antigenic drift. The antigenic shift means that there is a lot of change in the virus in a short time when there is a mutation. Antigenic drift means that there are fewer changes in the virus after mutation. The Omicron virus brought the third wave in the country between December-January. Now when there is a mutation in Omicron, then Stealth Omicron was born.
Coronavirus has the property that it creates a new mutant virus every 6 months. So there is no need to panic much about it, but it is also important to be cautious. Because people who have not had both vaccines. They can get caught up in it quickly. In such a situation, get both the shots done in time.
Question 2: Does the Stealth Omicron spread as fast as the Delta variant?
Answer: Yes, like the Delta variant, the Stealth Omicron also expands rapidly. This is because the spike protein of the Stealth Omicron virus, like Delta, changes rapidly. Therefore, its spreading ability is more than other variants.
Its effect can be seen in such a way that till the end of February, less than 200 Covid cases were being reported in China every day, but between March 1 and 15, the number of daily active cases has increased from 200 to more than 5000.
Question 3: Can vaccination reduce the effectiveness of Stealth Omicron?
Answer: Virus with more spike protein has more effect on the human body. After vaccination, the body develops antibodies against these spike proteins. This reduces the effect of the virus. Vaccination can therefore reduce the effectiveness of body stealth Omicron.
Natural immunity is also effective in reducing the effects of Stealth Omicron. For this, it is necessary to make a habit of eating well, sleeping properly, sitting in sunlight for 45 minutes, and exercising daily.
Question 4: Could the fourth wave come from stealth Omicron in India?
Answer: After the increasing cases in Hong Kong and China, there is talk of a fourth wave, but in India, a large population has been vaccinated. In such a situation, there will not be a big effect of any wave here. Yes, it is a different matter that the cases of Stealth Omicron in the country will continue to come up from the end of April to June.
Question 5: How are people more at risk than Stealth Omicron?
Answer: The stealth Omicron variant of Corona can prove to be dangerous for the elderly. Patients with high blood pressure and diabetes have to be more cautious. Because this variant spreads rapidly when there is immunity week. This strain has a longer effect on people who are overweight. So control your weight. Those who have got the first dose should get the second dose. The biggest thing is... we have to be healthy from the mind.
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