Along with growing concerns over the newly-detected Omicron cases in the State, there is also curiosity tinged with anxiety regarding the different ways in which one may have contracted the coronavirus variant, the people they have come in contact with and especially, their health status.
Director of Medical Education K. Ramesh Reddy said that health condition of all the patients with Omicron is stable and that they have only mild symptoms.
However, senior doctors have stressed that it is imperative to maintain all COVID precautions since the variant might become virulent (severe) if it gets a chance to replicate. PHFI’s IIPH-Hyderabad director G.V.S. Murthy concurred, adding that most mutations occur when viruses pass through human beings repeatedly as they try to survive better by adapting to the human host.
“When people do not protect themselves, mutation may become more serious. As of now, presentation of Omicron in people has been mild to moderate, and does not require hospitalisation. As with any COVID infection, it might become severe if a person has co-morbidities, or has high exposure to the virus or has not been vaccinated,” said Dr Murthy.
Senior doctors have reiterated the importance of precautions such as wearing face masks, vaccination and avoiding mass gatherings to keep severe/ dangerous possibilities at bay.
A total of 20 cases of the variant had been detected in the State till Sunday night, excluding a boy who was in transit and left for Kolkata, West Bengal. All of them were admitted to Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences (TIMS), Gachibowli.
Since the variant is new and being studied across the world, health condition of the patients at TIMS is being closely monitored. Healthcare workers have collected various details such as age, COVID vaccine doses, dates of vaccination, if there are experiencing any symptoms such as respiratory distress and fever, etc. Their vitals are checked regularly too.
“None of them have respiratory disease. Symptomatic treatment is being provided to them. We are also focusing on containment of the variant,” said Dr Ramesh Reddy.
Most patients are young, the maximum age being 40. Doctors said that the real virulence of Omicron will be known if people of various age groups, including the elderly, contract the variant/ State Health staff have been on the task of tracing all contacts of Omicron patients to contain the spread. However, the possibility of it spreading at a faster rate is not ruled out.
