"Omicron Not Common Cold": Centre Counters Its Epidemiologist
NDTV
"Clearly, Omicron variant is dominating right now," Dr Paul said as he urged people to take Omicron seriously and warned it could badly hit health care systems.
Omicron is not common cold and it is a misconception that is spreading, the government's top Covid adviser K Paul said today, a day after the country's top epidemiologist called Omicron infections as mild as a cold and said everybody would likely catch it.
"Omicron is not common cold. We are seeing this misconception spreading; it's our responsibility to slow it down. Let's mask up and get vaccinated, whoever is due," said Dr Paul, who heads the Covid Task Force.
"It's a fact that vaccines are helpful to an extent. Vaccination is a critical pillar of our Covid response," he added while briefing reporters.
Yesterday, a top epidemiologist at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Jayaprakash Muliyil, argued that rules so far to tackle the pandemic needed a complete relook as Omicron was a far milder variant than Delta and not frightening.
