Amid Growing Concern For New COVID-19 Variant Omicron, ICMR Official Issues Big Statement

Amid the new strain of COVID-19 being named ‘variant of concern’ by WHO, a senior ICMR official has now said that based on laboratory and population-based observations, more “information is being gathered on how it is behaving “at an individual level and the population level”.

“We are talking about different kinds of evidence of this new variant. One is laboratory-based observation and the other is population-based studies. So, taking into consideration all these, the variant has been announced as a variant of concern,” Dr Samiran Panda, the head of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases Division, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), told ANI.

World Health Organisation (WHO) has named it ‘Omicron’.

Panda said structural changes that have been observed in the new COVID-19 variant are indicative of the possibility of “adherence to the same cellular receptors with increased affinity or transmission”.

“Whether it is getting transmitted really fast or it is causing clusters of infections, it still requires a little more time for evidence,” he said.

Panda said it is to be seen how the variant behaves at an individual level and the population level.

The health expert said whether COVID-19 vaccines that have been administered in India and other countries are protective against this variant is a major concern.

He also emphasised preventive measures against COVID-19.

“We need to ensure community engagement because behaviour change is such a phenomenon and without community engagement, nothing can happen effectively. We need to follow COVID-appropriate behaviour such as masking, maintaining social distancing, vaccination. We need to remain a bit cautious about international travel,” he said.

No case of ‘Omicron’ has been reported from India.