As India reports over 9,000 cases in 24 hours, experts on the reasons behind spike in Covid infections

Then what is causing the current spike?

“This escalation is partly due to increased testing efforts, which have facilitated early diagnosis and treatment, consequently reducing the likelihood of further complications,” said Dr Hemalata Arora, senior consultant, Internal Medicine, Nanavati Max Super Speciality Hospital, Mumbai. “This Omicron variant has been linked to immune breakthroughs, potentially increasing the rate of reinfections. As a result, we expect a steady rise in cases over the next month or so before they start to decline,” Dr Arora told indianexpress.com.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently upgraded Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16 (Arcturus) to a Covid-19 “variant of interest” (VOI) due to its “sustained increase” and “growth advantage” reported from several countries.

“XBB. 1.16 is a descendent lineage of XBB, a recombinant of two BA.2 descendent lineages. Its hitting Indian population rapidly,” said Dr Shrey Srivastav, MD (Internal Medicine), Sharda Hospital, Noida.

However, WHO said on Wednesday that Covid-19 deaths had dropped by 95 per cent since the start of the year but warned that the virus was still on the move and countries would have to learn how to manage its ongoing non-emergency effects, including the post-Covid-19 condition, Long-Covid.

Are you taking all precautions? (Source: Getty Images/Thinkstock)

“We’re very encouraged by the sustained decline in reported deaths from Covid-19, which have dropped 95 per cent since the beginning of this year. However, some countries are seeing increases, and over the past four weeks, 14,000 people lost their lives to this disease,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference.

He added that WHO remained hopeful that it would be able to declare an end to Covid-19 as a public health emergency of international concern when its advisory committee convenes next.

Meanwhile, the Centre has urged people to wear masks in crowded places and complete their vaccination doses. Adding, Dr Arora stressed the need to adhere to the gold standards of prevention: mask usage, regular hand washing, and proper cough and cold etiquette. “Senior citizens, pregnant women, and individuals with respiratory infections or other chronic diseases should avoid crowded areas,” Dr Arora said.

Symptoms

Common symptoms include fever with chills, sore throat, body pain, headaches, abdominal discomfort, loose motion, and breathing difficulty, conjunctivitis/pink eye (new symptom), and sticky eyes (new symptom).

Who is at risk?

Population who are suffering from severe obesity, lung, kidney, liver disease, and diabetes, patients on chemotherapy, cancer patients, patients who had moderate severe covid in past, old age people and school going children must have extra precautions because they are at high risk, noted Dr Srivastav.

Prevention

Get all doses of covid vaccine, wear mask, wash hands, and avoid public gatherings specially where covid vaccination status of others are unknown. “Don’t ignore your symptoms and visit a doctor, if needed. Regular exercise and yoga have also proven to be beneficial in preventing covid. However, there is no need to panic because the number of cases might be increasing but its not fatal as of now,” concluded Dr Srivastav.

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