Why you can’t shrug off Omicron as common cold

NEW DELHI: Infection by the Covid variant Omicron is not the common cold. While some reports show a reduced risk of hospitalisation when infected by Omicron compared with Delta, there still are far too many people in hospital to be complacent about the latest coronavirus variant.

World Health Organization’s technical lead on Covid-19, Maria Van Kerkhove, reiterated the seriousness of the variant in a recent tweet. Her views are finding resonance among doctors involved in Covid management and actual patients. “It is not as mild as people say it is. I have had a high fever for the last three days and it is not subsiding despite medication. I also feel extreme weakness,” said Mayur Vihar resident Ranjana Sharma.

Dr Rajesh Chawla, senior consultant pulmonologist, Apollo Hospitals, said Omicron might have a lower mortality rate than Delta but was still sending people to hospitals. “I have three patients who require oxygen support. All of them are fully-vaccinated,” he said, warning against complacency and ignorance of Covid-appropriate behaviour.

The Omicron variant mostly causes infection in the upper respiratory tract but the doctors say there are also cases of lung damage, especially among elderly people and those with co-morbidities such as diabetes and hypertension.

“People should not take Covid-19 lightly at all. The new variant causing the current spate of infections may be milder than the previous variant but it is clear beyond doubt that its transmissibility rate is very high. If too many people get infected at a time, the hospitals will get overwhelmed,” said Dr Neeraj Nischal, additional professor, internal medicine, AIIMS.

Nischal stressed that the governments are doing their best to boost health infrastructure to handle demand for hospitalisation. “But if the cases are too many, such preparations may not help much. People have to take steps themselves to prevent the infection from spreading and thus save lives,” he said.

Covid caused by the Omicron variant typically causes symptoms such as cough, sore throat, fever, tiredness, headache and aches and pains. Diarrhoea and runny noses are rare. Unlike the previous wave caused by the Delta variant, there is no loss of smell or taste in a majority of patients this time, reports suggest.

The warning signs are difficulty in breathing, dip in oxygen saturation (SpO2
In the last two years since the pandemic began, many drugs have been repurposed to treat Covid while some new therapies have also come up. However, Nischal pointed out that there was limited evidence that these were efficacious. “In recent times, two key therapies have gained a lot of attention: monoclonal antibodies and the antiviral drug called Molnupiravir. Monoclonal antibodies available in India are not effective against the Omicron variant. Though Molnupiravir helps reduce hospitalisation in a small subset of patients, we also know that the drug has some side-effects. It is not advised for pregnant women and younger children,” the AIIMS doctor said.

Even the US FDA advises that Molnupiravir should be used only when the other therapeutic options are not available. It should not be used as pre-exposure or post-exposure prophylaxis, according to doctors.

“Drugs getting emergency-use authorisation should not be considered as magic pills,” cautioned another doctor. “We have seen how the indiscriminate use of some such drugs and therapies caused a lot of harm (side-effects) in many patients. We should learn from our mistakes."

At present, Delhi has 23,307 active cases. Of them, 782 patients, including some suspected cases, are hospitalised. Of those who are in hospitals, 140 (18%) are on oxygen support, while 22 (3%) others require ventilator support.