Some experts feel that restricting entry from a few countries would not help in either preventing or controlling the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus.
Experts have called on to identify more clusters of the new coronavirus variant Omicron and conduct genome sequencing. They also stated that vaccination would significantly reduce hospitalisation and severity of possible Covid-19 infection due to the Omicron variant.
Professor of epidemiology at Indian Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru, Giridhar R Babu said that Botswana, South Africa, Hong Kong and the other countries which have so far reported the presence of Omicron cannot be the only areas where the variant has travelled to. “These areas are the ones that have probably better surveillance and genomic sequencing and hence reported promptly. Absence of reporting is not the absence of (virus) circulation,” he said.
He said that restricting entry from a few countries would not help in either preventing or controlling the spread of Omicron. “It’s akin to closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. Instead, identify clusters of cases of recent origin and do genomic sequencing,” Babu said.
“Assuming that the first case of Omicron was found in November, investigating clusters in the past month would not be that difficult,” he said.
Dr Vishal Rao, member of the state genome sequencing committee, meanwhile, told The Indian Express that it is important to impose travel restrictions. “Within two weeks of it overtaking the Delta variant (as the predominant one) in South Africa, Omicron has been designated as a variant of concern. Genome sequencing should be upped to detect the variant faster,” he said.
Nodal officer for labs and testing in Karnataka’s Covid-19 task force, Dr CN Manjunath said: “Though the new variant can escape vaccine-induced immunity, vaccination will reduce hospitalisation and disease severity even now. In Eastern Europe the vaccination coverage is low and this is the reason there has been a spike in the number of cases. In India the coverage of the second dose of vaccine is low. If the second dose coverage is expedited it will be a positive move. Congregations should be avoided.”
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