Tag: Delta

  • ‘Omicron shouldn’t be categorised as mild’: WHO

    ‘Omicron shouldn’t be categorised as mild’: WHO

    The infectious virus Omicron is a less severe disease than the globally dominant Delta strain, but should not be categorised as “mild”, WHO Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus clarified.

    While giving the statement in Geneva, he said that just like previous variants, Omicron is hospitalising and killing people, reports Reuters.

    Janet Diaz, WHO lead on clinical management said that when Omicron was first detected, early studies showed that there was a reduced risk of hospitalisation.

    According to her, the impact on the elderly is one of the big unanswered questions about the new variant as most of the cases studied so far have been in younger people.

    Currently, healthcare systems are overwhelmed, and governments are struggling to deal with the new variant which has killed millions of people worldwide.

    The vaccine process is quite slow in many countries. According to Ghebreyesus, 109 countries will miss the WHO’s target for 70 per cent of the world’s population to be fully vaccinated by July.

    Pakistan recorded 1293 cases on Friday and the positivity rate stands at 2.52 per cent.

  • Omicron Variant: ‘Need for vaccination even more urgent,’ says Asad Umar

    Omicron Variant: ‘Need for vaccination even more urgent,’ says Asad Umar

    Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives and head of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), Asad Umar, has stressed upon the need of getting vaccinated with the arrival of the Omicron variant. “With arrival of omicron variant the need for vaccination even more urgent. So far 8 crore 75 lakh Pakistani’s have taken at least one dose and 6 crore people are fully vaccinated,” the minister wrote in a tweet.

    On December 13, the NCOC confirmed the first case of the Omicron variant in Pakistan.

    NCOC also stressed upon the importance of getting vaccinated to stay safe from new variants.

  • VIDEO: 106-year-old Karachi woman recovers from Delta variant

    A 106-year-old woman in Karachi has recovered from coronavirus after contracting the Delta variant, ARY News reported.

    Haseen Bibi had been admitted to a Covid-19 centre established at Karachi’s Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical College Lyari. She successfully fought the battle against the deadly Delta variant and has been discharged from the Covid ward.

    The hospital staff, along with her family, celebrated her recovery by cutting a cake at the medical centre.

    Last year in July, a 103-year-old man recovered from the coronavirus in Booni Chitral.

    The Delta variant was detected in India for the first time in September 2020 and is more dangerous and contagious than the other Covid-19 variants.