OMICRON - IS IT REALLY A VARIANT OF CONCERN?

Dr Darshan Kumar Manubhai Raval, Shashwat Mallik, Shahin Khan

Abstract


Omicron is the newest variant of concern of the SARS-CoV-2 which has spread to over 75 countries across the globe and has displayed increased
transmissibility as evident by the rapid increase in number of cases. This variant was rst reported in South Africa, and later spread to Europe and
India by international travel, but now signicant community transmission is underway. While the hospitalization rate is lower overall, there is an
increase in hospitalization rate seen in pediatric patients with Omicron as compared to the previous strains. The severity of disease caused by this
variant is still unclear as South Africa reports decreased hospitalization and mortality while India reports a spike in the case fatality rate. The
vaccine efcacy has also decreased in preventing infection, but it might still offer signicant protection against severe disease, and individuals
taking a booster dose remain as protected as against the other strains. While India has fully vaccinated 40.9 % of its total population, only 26.5 % of
the population has taken both the doses in South Africa. We compared the most vaccinated province and the least vaccinated province of South
Africa and the data supported the belief that vaccination did not protect people from contracting the Omicron infection. A comparison between
South Africa and India, a country where Omicron is starting to gain a stronghold, is also done and the early data shows a higher increase in the
number of deaths in India after the introduction of the newest variant.


Keywords


World Health Organization

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