New Delhi. So far, the Omicron variant has been found in 89 countries of the world and due to community transmission, its cases are doubling in 1.5 to 3 days. The World Health Organization (WHO) has given this information. WHO has told in technical information given to member countries that there is evidence that Omicron is spreading much faster than Delta.
It is also a matter of concern that Omicron is spreading rapidly in countries where the population has high immunity. However, it is not yet clear whether this virus has the ability to evade immunity or its infectiousness has increased or it may be that both of these reasons are behind it.
WHO said- We gave a variant of concern status to Omicron on 26 November. However, we do not know how serious this new variant could prove to be. As of now, there is very little data available about this variant, according to that it is difficult to say anything. There is no word yet on the effect of the vaccine on Omicron.
The organization said that the only relief is that Omicron is not as deadly as the earlier variants of Corona. However, given the speed at which it is spreading, there is a need to keep taking measures like masks, sanitization, and avoiding crowds.
Moderna’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Paul Burton has said that if Omicron and Delta strains together infect someone, then a new super variant of Corona can be formed. Delta and Omicron’s outbreak speeds in the UK have raised fears of a super-variant. He told that the two viruses can share and swap genes together.
Dr. Burton said that usually humans are infected with only one mutant strain of corona, but in some special cases, two strains infect the patient at the same time. If both Delta and Omicron infect a cell, they can exchange DNA with each other. If these two meet, a new super-strain of Corona can be formed.
For 20 consecutive days in India, less than 10 thousand cases of corona are being registered daily. However, this does not reduce the risk. NITI Aayog member VK Paul said that if we look at the scale of infection of Omicron in Britain and compare it with the population of India, then it can be said that if the infection spreads, India will have up to 14 lakh cases daily. He also said that genome sequencing of every case cannot be done.
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