Omicron has a significant growth advantage over Delta, and is spreading fast through communities, said Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Friday, adding that India currently has 358 cases of the new Covid-19 variant across 17 states.
At a press briefing, Bhushan further said that the doubling rate of Omicron is 1.5 days, adding that a figure of 3 days is a matter of concern as cited by WHO. ICMR chief Dr Balram Bharghava, also present at the briefing, said that the predominant strain in India is still the Delta variant.
The Delta variant of the Covid, which was first detected in Maharashtra last year, had sparked the deadly second wave in the country.
Bhushan said that of the 183 Omicron cases analysed so far, “91% were fully vaccinated with three having booster shots, 70% were asymptomatic, 61% were males”.
He further said that “therapeutic interventions” to manage Omicron infected patients remains the same. “Therapeutic interventions for the management of patients with severe or critical Covid-19 associated with the Omicron variant that target host responses are expected to remain effective. Although evidence is still emerging, risk of potential immune escape against infection,” he said.
Warning against high transmission rates, which could lead to further surges, Bhushan said, “The world is witnessing the fourth surge and and the overall positivity is 6.1%. Therefore, we have to be on guard and we can’t afford to slacken.”
“While Europe, North America and Africa are seeing an increase in Covid-19 cases week-on-week, Asia is still witnessing a decline in cases week-on-week,” he said.
20 districts reporting weekly positivity between 5-10%
Talking about India’s Covid cases, the Centre said the top five states with the highest number of active cases, at the moment, are Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Karnataka.
“Twenty districts in India are reporting a weekly positivity between 5 and 10%,” he added.
Bhushan also said that as many as 11 states are of concern to the health ministry, including Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Punjab, Maharashtra, Bihar, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. All these states have low vaccination rates, said Bhushan, adding that all poll-bound states except Goa have low vaccination rates.
Giving details on the arrangement of beds to deal with an emergency crisis in case of a surhe, Bhushan said, “Today, we have 18,10,083 isolation beds, 4,94,314 O2 supported beds, 1,39,300 ICU beds, 24,057 pediatric ICU beds and 64,796 pediatric non-ICU beds available nationally.”
He also said that the Centre has asked states to be proactive and alert and “impose restrictions like night curfew, regulating large gatherings. increase bed capacity and other logistics and strict enforcement of Covid-appropriate behaviour.”
Sharing news on the vaccination front, the Centre said that 89% of the adult population has received the first dose and 61% of the eligible population has received the second dose.
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