European Omicron trends offer key lessons for Kerala
The Hindu
Public health experts say Kerala could face a unique situation of having both Delta and Omicron in circulation in the community, overwhelming health systems
As Kerala braces for a potential spread of Omicron virus variant in the days ahead, multiple plans and strategies will have to be implemented to ensure that the health system is not overwhelmed and non-COVID care is not hit as it was during the peak of the previous Delta wave.
“It is a different set of challenges that we might be up against this time, if a community transmission of the Omicron variant were to take place. After two years of dealing with the pandemic we know that there is no need for a knee jerk reaction. But there are huge uncertainties over at what point should we act and whether we should anticipate that the situation involving Omicron may turn out to be as bad as Delta was,” a senior public health expert says.
While real world data from South Africa always maintained that the Omicron variant caused less serious disease than Delta, public health experts seemed to be waiting for data from the UK and Europe to confirm this.
As speculation over the continuation of Minister for Scheduled Tribes Welfare B. Nagendra in the Cabinet persisted, with the demand for his resignation raised by the BJP in connection with the ₹94 crore scam at the Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation, his Cabinet colleagues came to his defence on Thursday.