Covid-19 Studies: Omicron Variant Spreads Faster but Least Damaging to Health
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 2: Amidst rising cases of Covid-19 and the West Bengal government imposing fresh restrictions virtually suspending most of the normal activities in the state, has come a good news, the Omicron variant is less damaging to human health than most other variants of Coronavirus so far found in the world.
India on Sunday reported a single-day rise of 27,553 Covid-19 cases and 284 deaths. With 9,249 recoveries recorded in the last 24 hours, the active caseload stood at 1,22,801. The Omicron tally in India reached 1,525, according to a press release by the Union Ministry of Health. Data shared by the ministry showed thickly populated cities like Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai were experiencing the sharpest increase in daily new cases.
Major cities across the country have witnessed a surge in their Covid count. Delhi saw 2,716 fresh cases Saturday, the highest number of single-day cases recorded since May 21 in the city. In Mumbai, 6,180 new Covid-19 cases were recorded with its positivity rate nearing 13 per cent. Karnataka, too, breached the thousand-mark in a single-day spike in cases as the state Saturday recorded 1,033 fresh Covid cases of which, Bengaluru Urban reported 810 cases.
West Bengal reported 4,512 new COVID-19 cases taking the active caseload in the state to 13,300 – the third-highest in the country after Maharashtra and Kerala. Bengal has also reported 20 cases of the more infectious Omicron variant, the rapid spread of which has triggered alarm bells across the world and in India, prompting the state government to impose newer restrictions in the state.
The night curfew has returned in West Bengal to remain in force from 10 P.M. to 5 A.M. besides the government deciding to close down all schools, colleges, universities, spas, salons, beauty parlours, zoos, and entertainment parks from Monday. Offices will be allowed to operate with 50 per cent workforce and only essential services will be permitted from 10 am to 5 pm. Local trains will stop services from 7 P.M. and metro trains to run with 50 per cent capacity. It has also imposed various restrictions on both the domestic and international flights.
But amidst the serious concerns, the reports of a series of recent studies on lab animals and human tissues are providing the first indication that the Omicron variant causes milder disease than previous versions of the Coronavirus. In studies on mice and hamsters, Omicron produced less-damaging infections, often limited largely to the upper airway: the nose, throat and windpipe. The variant did much less harm to the lungs, where previous variants would often cause scarring and serious breathing difficulty.
The studies reveal that why Omicron variant unlike the other variants cause milder effect on the bodies. Coronavirus infections start in the nose or possibly the mouth and spread down the throat. Mild infections do not get much further than that. But when the coronavirus reaches the lungs, it can do serious damage.
Immune cells in the lungs can overreact, killing off not just infected cells but uninfected ones. They can produce runaway inflammation, scarring the lung’s delicate walls. What’s more, the viruses can escape from the damaged lungs into the bloodstream, triggering clots and ravaging other organs. The studies also reveal that Omicron evolved into an upper-airway specialist, thriving in the throat and nose and has little chance to go down to the lungs to cause serious damages to health. Because the Omicron virus stays mostly in the upper-airways, the virus might have a better chance of getting expelled in tiny drops into the surrounding air and encountering new hosts which explains why it spreads more rapidly than Delta or other variants but have milder impact on health, the reports claimed.
Like the reports of the latest studies, the Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday advised the people not to panic and called the newer variant “mild.” At a press conference on Sunday, Kejriwal said there was “no need to panic as hospitalisation in the current scenario is very low.”
Assuring people that there are enough oxygen beds as hospitalisation was low, he said: “At present, only 82 oxygen beds are occupied in Delhi. We have 37,000 of them. There is no need to panic, but have to be responsible by wearing masks and avoiding gatherings. This Covid variant is very mild.”
His address comes at a time the number of Omicron cases in Delhi have risen to 351, the second highest tally in a state after Maharashtra.
The air quality of the national capital was in the “very poor” category on Sunday morning with the AQI clocking 398 at 9 am, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data showed.
But the West Bengal government said on Sunday that the state would operate flights from Delhi and Mumbai – two regions that have reported an alarming number of cases of the highly transmissible variant – only twice a week on Mondays and Fridays. All the airlines operating flights from Delhi and Mumbai to Kolkata and elsewhere in the state have been intimated regarding the new directives, which will come into effect from Tuesday.
“West Bengal to operate flights from Delhi and Mumbai only twice a week, which will be on Monday and Friday, with effect from January 5,” said the state’s chief secretary HK Dwivedi, while announcing the fresh coronavirus-related restrictive measures, on part of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government, on Sunday.
Notably, the West Bengal government had earlier this week written to the central government announcing its decision to suspend the once-a-week direct flight between Kolkata and London, considering the rising number of Omicron variant cases in the United Kingdom.
The decision was taken after a high-level meeting of the state government, in which chief minister Mamata Banerjee met top officials of the administration and public health experts, and discussed the high incidence of Omicron cases among in-bound flyers.
The last flight from London’s Heathrow airport to Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport lands on Sunday, i.e. January 2, after which the service will remain suspended. According to airlines officials, this puts passengers intending to avail international travel in a fix since it would entail a “logistical nightmare” to accommodate all the passengers in flights operating from other Indian cities.
Now, the reduction in flight services from Delhi and Mumbai to Kolkata from January 5 is only expected to compound the problem further.
