WHO Chief Scientist Warns Of Omicron BA.2, New Variants: How To Survive COVID Without Lockdown. 5Pts
Hinting that the pandemic is not over, World Health Organisation’s (WHO) chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan noted that currently Omicron BA.2 is dominant worldwide including in India.
And several other variants like the XE, BA.4 and BA.5 have also been detected. Under such circumstances, it is extremely essential to maintain all COVID rules to curb the spread of the virus.
The WHO expert also indicated that there is no need for another lockdown-like measure in the future, but ‘all people must wear masks’ as a precautionary measure.
Follow Covid guidelines:
In an interview with Navabharat Times, Swaminathan asserted, COVID is an airborne virus in which closed, crowded places with poor ventilation are at risk. “So, as long as covid continues to spread among people, it is good to maintain caution.”
Listing out the preventive measures, she said: If everyone wears a well-fitting face mask, the risk of spreading it can be greatly reduced.
Those who have symptoms of respiratory illness should stay at home and everyone should keep washing their hands.
Guidelines can be made according to epidemiology. Public health measures should be tightened as the infection progresses.
Vaccination is the best measure:
Immunity wears off over time and even complete vaccination with Omicron does not protect against infection. However, a full course of vaccination is the best defense against serious illness, she reaffirmed.
“In the cases of fast-spreading viruses like Omicron, we saw that it was difficult to stop the infection, but it was possible to prevent the deaths due to vaccination.” he also informed that WHO is closely monitoring the situation to see if the vaccine composition will need to be modified.
Lockdown-like measures not needed
Speaking about lockdown-like measures, she said, “In the early days of the pandemic, there was no other way to stop the virus from spreading.
Today we have good testing facilities, vaccines and even some useful medicines. So we don’t need to adopt crude measures like lockdown.”
However, whether the government should make masks mandatory or not, all people must wear masks. (Courtesy: https://www.livemint.com/)
