Kounsar Bashir
The Coronavirus is showing a massive rise yet again. A new variant of coronavirus has emerged raising alarm all around the world. Scientists and Health Officials across the globe are bracing up their research about the new variant named after “Omicron.”
The Covid-19 or the Coronavirus was first detected in the city of Wuhan, China, in late 2019 but the outbreak spread quickly across the globe in the first few months of 2020.
It was declared a Global Pandemic by the WHO on March 11, 2020, a lockdown was announced all across the globe. According to BBC, Covid-19 has so far, caused 5 million deaths and there are around 265 million confirmed cases across the planet.
About the changing mutations of the ‘Omicron’ hospitals, doctors, scientists are preparing beforehand to tackle the situation getting worse.
The Jammu Kashmir region on Thursday reported 1988 cases of Covid 19- 23 people have also tested positive for omicron. The Manoj Sinha- led administration has imposed several restrictions including banning of offline classes and disallowing any large gatherings.
What is the Omicron variant?
First identified in Botswana and South Africa, this new variant of the coronavirus has prompted concern among Scientists and Public Health Officials because of an unusually high number of mutations that have the potential to make the virus more transmissible and less susceptible to existing vaccines.
The W.H.O. (World Health Organization) has called Omicron a “variant of concern” and warned that the global risks posed by it were “very high.” Officials described as a multitude of uncertainties. “It is still unclear if the highly mutated variant is more transmissible or better able to evade vaccines.”
Most Common Symptoms
Most common symptoms for the new COVID Variant ‘Omicron’ are fever, cough, tiredness, loss of taste or smell.
Less Common Symptoms
Less common symptoms for the new COVID variant Omicron, are sore throat, headache, aches, pains, diarrhoea, a rash on skin, discolouration of fingers or toes, red or irritated eyes.
Serious Symptoms
Serious symptoms for the new COVID variant ‘Omicron’ are difficulty in breathing or shortness of breath, loss of speech or mobility, or confusion or chest pain.
The World Health Organization has said that the Omicron variant has now been reported from 57 countries. South Korea tops the list of the number of new covid cases.
The new variant has, so far, been found in 57 countries, the World Health Organization said, warning that the rate of hospitalization resulting from infection is likely to rise.
The W.H.O. said that it needed more data to evaluate the severity of the disease caused by the new variant. “Even if the severity is equal or potentially even lower than for delta variant, it is expected that hospitalizations will increase if more people become infected. There will be a time lag between an increase in the incidence of cases and an increase in the incidence of deaths,” it said.
In an interview with the AFP news agency, on Tuesday, the W.H.O.’s director of Health Emergencies, Michael Ryan, said it was “highly unlikely” that the new variant dodged vaccine protections entirely.
Is Jammu Kashmir prepared?
Like the other places, Jammu Kashmir also witnessed a high number of Covid-19 cases and deaths especially in capital city of Srinagar.
As the wounds of losing loved ones due to Covid-19 are still fresh, Jammu Kashmir is also bracing up to face the new variant known as ‘Omnicron.’
Meanwhile, The Kashmiriyat accessed the data on the number of Oxygen plants available in the hospitals of Kashmir Valley. There are 65 Oxygen plants, 15 Era oxygen plants. While the total capacity per LMP (litre per minute) is 53570.
The total number of beds without Oxygen support are 2236 and occupied beds are 2. While those with oxygen support are 2773, of which 173 are occupied. As for the ventilators across Kashmir valley, there are 261 ICU beds, of which 19 are occupied. There are 248 ventilators available and 10 of them are currently occupied.
Moreover, the number of Covid ICU beds is 278 and Covid beds, on the other hand, is 2508.
Here are the statistics of hospitals across the valley:
Talking to The Kashmiriyat over phone, Dr. Nisar-ul-Hassan, the President, Doctors Association of Kashmir (D.A.K.) said that as of now, the early evidence suggests that Omnicron causes mild illness in people, especially those who are vaccinated.
He said that enough number of people are vaccinated in valley, almost more than half of the population are vaccinated either fully or with the first dose.
Hassan said that the evidence from South Africa, Europe and India also suggests that those who are infected, either they are asymptomatic or have mild infection. But “we don’t know what is coming, we should remain cautious” as it may take some time to know how much it will affect an individual, he said.
“Our hospitals are not overwhelmed at the moment. Although, there’s an increased number of patients due to the winter and the other viruses like (H1N1) and the Covid-19,” the President of the DAK said.
He also said that there may be a need of more ICU beds in SKIMS and SMHS so that we are prepared enough to tackle any situation. “Pediatric Hospitals should also have more ICU beds,” Hassan told The Kashmiriyat
Cautioning about the upcoming situation, Hassan further said, “Talking about testing, we are on track but genetic sequencing has to be enhanced because Kashmir is a tourist place and here, we never know, Omnicron may have sneaked in.”
“I suggest genetic testing should not only be done at airports but also at the community level to see whether we have this variant or not,” Dr. Nisar said.
Hassan urged the people of the valley to get vaccinated. He said that those who are already vaccinated should get the booster shots. The authorities and Health Department in Jammu district are also gearing up to make arrangements for tackling Omicron.
Talking to The Kashmiriyat, Principal and Dean, G.M.C. Jammu, Dr. Shashi Sudan Sharma, said that their staff was well trained to deal with Covid-19 cases like the past 2 years. “Now, we are gearing up arrangements for Omicron variant,” she said.
At present, G.M.C. Jammu has 2800 beds available for patients and in addition, 2 new hospitals have been added which include 200 beds of MCH and 500 beds of DRDO.
An oxygen plant with 2000 L.M.P. capacity is currently available at the GMC Hospital and two of DRDO, life-saving drugs, consumables, ventilator and oxygen cylinders have been stocked in adequate quantity.
We are conducting 95% RT-PCR tests, everyday, for the travellers and 5% of random testing and are monitoring all the travellers as per routine.
“It is high time to take up the challenge and adopt Covid-19 appropriate behaviour, which includes wearing face mask in public, and maintaining social distance,” she said.
Dr. Shashi said that people should avoid public gathering as the variants of the deadly virus are mutating at a rapid rate. “Only by putting an end to further spread of the infection, we can easily prevent its mutations,” she added
Appealing people to adhere to the government-announced SOPs, she said that the containment of the virus depended upon the people’s pledge to fight the virus by adhering to SOPs.