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| Omicron Not Mild | | | The World Health Organization (WHO) has cautioned that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is not mild as it has already overwhelmed the health systems across the world. The Covid cases in J&K too are on rise as during the past few days both
Last week, the world recorded the highest number of COVID-19 cases. The UN agency’s latest weekly report showed that a record 9.5 million COVID-19 infections were reported across the world over the previous week — a 71% increase on the previous seven-day period.
Jammu and Kashmir regions have witnessed a spike. It means that alarm bells have started ringing again and a third wave has arrived.
The J&K administration is claiming that it’s well equipped to tackle any situation and arrangements have already been put in place. But the past experiences of the people are too bitter. The first two Covid waves had wreaked havoc with the health system going haywire. One hopes that this time around nothing gets crippled and if the cases witness a spike people don’t grapple for space in the hospitals.
Last week Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya interacted with State Health Ministers, Principal Secretaries, Additional Chief Secretaries of States/UTs and reviewed the public health preparedness to tackle the third wave of Covid. Possibilities about a high surge in the cases were discussed. The participants discussed the scenario that can lead to the medical system getting overwhelmed. The Minister directed the concerned to ramp up the infrastructure to meet the challenges as may be posed in due course of time.
The J&K Government has already announced restrictions on the movement of people during the night hours. Schools and colleges continue to remain closed.
As per the government protocol, if the positivity rate continues to rise, it might notify the amber, orange and red alerts, enforcing incremental restrictions with each level, resulting in most economic activities coming to a standstill.
According to the recent studies Omicron spreads nearly three times faster than the highly Delta variant which otherwise is also highly transmissible. While Omicron has emerged as the dominant variant in a few countries, it has not completely displaced the Delta variant so far even as it threatens to do so in near future.
At the same time, it must be borne in mind that Delta has not been defeated. There are twin threats from the two variants. People need to take precautions and follow the basic sops: wear masks, maintain social distance and hand hygiene. The virus has once again reared its ugly head. It needs to be defeated by going for a booster dose and getting the children between 15 to 18 years vaccinated. |
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