New Delhi: Most of the patients infected with Omicron variant of coronavirus recover within five days, said Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Thursday. The data comes from a recently conducted detailed study (in Delhi) by the Centre on the most common symptoms of COVID in the third wave.
The official statement has come at a time when the country is witnessing a massive surge in COVID cases, led by the Omicron variant. On Thursday itself, over three lakh infections were recorded in India.
Common symptoms of Omicron
Fever, with or without rigors (shivering), cough, irritation in the throat, muscular weakness and tiredness are the five common symptoms listed by the Health Ministry. Around 99% of patients in Delhi complained of these symptoms, with fever, cough and throat irritation generally subsiding after day 5, the health ministry data revealed.
Sharing data during a routine press conference on the COVID situation in the country, Bhushan said, “In Delhi, from January 9 to 19, there have been 75,000-78,000 active cases but number of hospitalisations remains between 2,500 to 2,600.”
How come the infection is less severe even amid the massive surge?
Dr Balram Bhargava, ICMR-DG, explaining the reason behind severity of infections being low despite a huge surge in cases, said: “Vaccines have remained beneficial in India. Deaths have considerably reduced due to vaccinations. In this third surge of COVID-19, we are currently not witnessing severe illness and deaths due to high vaccination uptake.”
He also said that 94% of India’s adults have been administered the first anti-COVID dose. In the 15-18 years age group, around 52% have received their first dose of the vaccine. Further, government officials said that vaccination coverage will be expanded for those under 15 years of age based on scientific evidence.
(With agency inputs)
