Omicron is Not the Common Cold, Can Disrupt the Operation of Healthcare systems - Central Government

On Wednesday, the central government noted the alarming rise in Coronavirus cases associated with the Omicron strain, despite low rates of hospitalization for Coronavirus. India's government announced that more than half of the districts had positive results from 78 to 300 in a single week. There are two major issues the government is concerned about right now - a rapid increase in cases and an increase in Coronavirus cases.

According to Dr. V K Paul, head of India's Covid-19 task force, the positivity rate relative to other districts has been phenomenally high, which indicates that the pandemic has intensified. Further, he said the Delta variant is rapidly being replaced by the Omicron variant in India. Dr. Paul warned that the Omicron variant is not comparable to the common cold and that it may overload health infrastructure throughout the country.

Moreover, he further said that since the spread of the disease is such, it is likely that all members of a family will become infected if one gets infected. Dr. Paul lists several countries where health infrastructures are under extreme strain because of the Omicron variant, including India where lab tests for the disease have forced many health professionals to stay at home.
Doctor Paul said that some Covid-19 drugs as well as other medicines cannot be misused, stressing the danger of irrational use. The risk of spreading diseases such as mucormycosis or black fungus was cited as a potential failure of such practices. As a very potent drug and life-saving solution, steroids also come with a number of negative side effects, including the blocking of certain biochemical pathways.