Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Dec 25: Director SKIMS and renowned expert in Internal & Pulmonary Medicine, Dr Parvaiz Koul today said that J&K including the rest of the country was not experiencing an unusual surge as yet with the emergence of the new COVID-19 variant which is wreaking havoc in China.
J&K and India as a whole are not experiencing an unusual surge as yet. However, since it is winter, the time for circulation of respiratory pathogens in Kashmir, it is in one’s interest to be alert and cautious,” he wrote in a long Twitter thread.
He said that there is no need to panic while noting that the situation in China is different as they resorted to strict lockdowns which resulted in lower exposure to the virus and lower immunity to natural infection.
“Also the vaccine used predominantly in China is the inactivated Sinopharm/Sinovac vaccine which is inferior in evoking a robust immune response as compared to the adenovirus vectored vaccine used predominantly in India,” he said.
He said that the percentage of the immunized among those vulnerable to severe illness in China, specifically regarding booster doses, is not known.
“Possibly they opened abruptly without adequate immunization of the vulnerable. The variant(s) of Omicron circulating there has (ve) high transmissibility. These BF.7 and XBB have been reported from India for a while but haven’t caused any outbreaks so far. For any variant to survive it has to demonstrate some immune escape,” he said.
He said that as a group, Omicron does not cause severe illness and most of the symptoms are those of the upper respiratory tract rather than the lower RT and the lungs.
However, he noted that new and more virulent variants can emerge anytime which emphasizes genomic surveillance to stay on the lookout for emerging variants. “This is the reason for the advisory from MOHFW. India has a clear advantage of higher vaccinations and more natural infections during the Omicron surge.”
Dr Koul said that modelling data from credible agencies-like from the University of Washington-predict a low circulation of the virus for coming weeks in JK, “but models can go horribly wrong.”
Follow our WhatsApp channel