Kerala stares at Omicron surge amid Delta wave- The New Indian Express

Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With Omicron set to infect more people in the weeks to come, the state is uniquely placed with having the maximum number of cases of Delta infection, which is at present the most dominant Covid variant. The state faces the simultaneous impact of the waves of Delta and Omicron as seen in some European countries. 

The immune escape nature of the new variant, and a highly mobile and, at the same time, cautious population are expected to make the Omicron surge in the state different from the rest of the country. The state continues to be the major contributor of daily Covid cases (25.6%) in the country. 

The new variant has arrived at a time when thousands of families are still dealing with the impact of Delta. Suddenly, the protection ensured by way of two doses of vaccine and immunity developed through natural infection have found to be not enough to prevent the infection through Omicron. To be sure, the immunity developed against Covid has been found to have offered baseline protection in places which have seen Omicron surges.

As many as 107 people have been detected with Omicron in the state so far. Fourteen among them got the infection through contact with infected persons. According to health experts, it is only a matter of time that Omicron replaces Delta as variant causing the surge. It has also been found that the doubling rate or the time taken for the patient population to double is just two days in the case of Omicron. 

Hence, how fast the new variant replaces Delta is keenly watched as health experts prepare action plans to deal with the surge. Omicron has replaced Delta in just one month to 1.5 months in South Africa where the new variant was first detected. Similar situations have been noticed in various European countries such as Denmark which has a comparable vaccination coverage to that of Kerala.

“Omicron became a dominant variant of the surge in two to three weeks in other countries. Kerala is likely to face a similar situation even if remote locations in other parts of the country could see a different pace of spread,” said internal medicine specialist and public health activist Dr N M Arun. Some health experts see the Omicron wave following a similar trajectory as the Delta wave. 

“The state will have a slow rate of spread of Omicron to begin with due to the better precaution we take. In other parts, the rise and fall of cases will be faster while Kerala will have a delayed start and delayed ending just as we saw in the case of Delta,” said Dr Anish T S, a member of the Covid management committee and assistant professor at the Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram. 

According to him, the continued spread of Delta variant is because more people have been protected from infection when compared to other states. “Due to the presence of Delta cases, we are still active in controlling it. So, we need to recalibrate the machinery to deal with Omicron. In several states, they require a total reinstatement of the entire system,” he added.