Author : P. D.GUPTA
(Former Director Grade Scientist, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India.)
www.daylife.page
On title of the book Corona Gyan which was published in October, 2020mentioned that “Know corona well as you have to live with it”, since then almost 18 months passed Corona is still pandemic not left the world. Who knows how many variant still it will produce and give trouble to mankind? Currently reports from china are very disturbing, Australia, a nation that once imposed lockdowns in response to handfuls of cases, now says that it’s done with all that — even as cases soar. New Zealand plans to reopen to travelers, if gradually. Britain, France, Spain, Sweden, Norway and other European countries are also beginning to treat Covid more like the flu.
Now slowly and slowly many Governments remove virus restrictions, but it is bouncing back, Wehave had seen in China and now it is happening in Denmark. Lately, Denmark essentially declared an end to the pandemic in the country, lifting most of its remaining Covid restrictions and making it among the first E.U. members to abandon rules in favour of treating the virus as endemic.
Overall, the Omicron variant is less severe but the Omicron variant (and sub variants) taking over many countries in a big way. So even though we see really high case counts, we don’t need to flatten the curve like we used to, simply because we don’t see as severe a picture as we used to — with Delta for instance.
When we look deeper into the numbers of hospitalizations, what we see is that we have a low and stable number of admissions to intensive care units. Overall the majority are simply happy that the restrictions are lifted and that we can start to get back to normal. The main task now is to protect those who are still at risk, like the elderly population or the immunocompromised. And there are still some measures in place that protect those who are at risk. The 4th wave as it is predicted, the present variant is infecting more young children so government of India has taken decision to vaccinate young ones. It is possible it may interfere with their immune system.
We still recommend mask-wearing and taking a test before visiting hospitals and nursing homes public transport and educational institutions.
But so many people have had an infection or have been vaccinated in certain geographical areas and in certain age groups that it simply slows down the growth of the epidemic. Of course, opening up and lifting all restrictions could lead to additional growth, especially when you open the nightlife.
What we know is that immunity from SARS-CoV-2 isn’t lifelong immunity, like the immunity from measles, for instance. That means we will have waning immunity. We know what waning immunity looks like from the seasonal flu. Each winter people get back together inside, immunity starts to wane, you have new strains, and you start to see a rise in the flu and a small epidemic occur. (The author has his own study and views)
