AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria’s fresh warning amid Omicron rise in India

A day after the Centre wrote to all states and Union Territories to prepare for the battle against Omicron on a war footing, AIIMS Delhi director Dr Randeep Guleria said vaccine and Covid-appropriate behaviour are the only two ways to counter the increasing spread of the new variant.

As of Wednesday, India has reported 213 Omicron cases starting from December 2, when the first Omicron cases in the country were detected.

“Omicron is a more transmissible variant. We need to do two things to protect ourselves, first one is to take vaccines and the second is to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour,” Dr Guleria said.

Earlier, Dr Guleria said existing vaccines can be tweaked for protection against Omicron. “We will have second-generation vaccines. This is something which we need to keep in mind. The current vaccines are effective but with new variants, they will decrease immunity. However, vaccines can be tweaked…There are also studies going on about if we can have a bivalent COVID-19 vaccine. Let’s say the Delta variant and Beta variant combined into one vaccine that makes a bivalent vaccine.”

The Omicron cases reported in India are mostly from foreign-origin which means either the patients have been to foreign countries or they have come into contact with someone who has been to a foreign country. All cases have been mild with no major symptoms reported so far. Though most patients are recovering in home isolation, state governments are getting Omicron patients admitted to facilities as there is a chance of transmission in home isolation.

In its letter to the states and UTs in which the Centre pressed the emergency button, it said, “Based on current scientific evidence, the VOC Omicron is at least three times more transmissible than the Delta VOC. Besides, the Delta VOC is still present in different parts of the country. Hence, even greater foresight, data analysis, dynamic decision making and strict and prompt containment action is required at the local and district level. The decision making at the State/UTs and district level must be very prompt and focussed.”