Omicron has high immune escape potential: INSACOG

A woman receives a vaccine dose, in Prayagraj on Monday. Pic/ANI

There is now clear experimental and clinical data supporting very high immune escape potential of Omicron, but initial estimates show the severity of illness being lower than what was seen in previous outbreaks, the Indian SARS-COV-2 Genomics Consortia INSACOG said in its latest bulletin citing global data.

In India, appropriate public health measures and investigations are being conducted for surveillance of Omicron, INSACOG said while noting that globally there appears to be significantly reduced ability of vaccines or prior infection to protect against symptomatic infection by the Omicron variant.

"While Delta continues to be the most prevalent VOC globally, the Omicron variant has completely displaced it in southern Africa and is on track to become the dominant variant in UK and elsewhere, "INSACOG said in its bulletin released on Wednesday.

The genomic consortium, citing global data, said there is now clear experimental and clinical data supporting very high immune escape potential of Omicron, which appears to be the major component of its growth advantage over Delta.

"Initial estimates of severity of illness have, however, been lower than seen in previous outbreaks. Whether these initial observations are generalisable to older non-immune subjects is not clear and the threat level is still considered high," it said.

India has recorded 781 Omicron cases so far, of which 241 people have recovered as per the Centre.

3,48,08,886 Total no. of Coronavirus cases in india so far
4,80,592 Total no. of deaths due to the virus in India so far
77,002 Total no. of active cases in India

Man climbs tree to escape vaccination

A person from Puducherry's Vilianur climbed a tree to avoid being administered a vaccine shot on Tuesday. Officials said the middle-aged man ran away from his home carrying a machete and later climbed the tree. They said he was pretending to be pruning the branches. He has apparently evaded many attempts of health officials to vaccinate him.

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