Tag: Omicron

  • WHO experts say repeating booster shots not appropriate

    WHO experts say repeating booster shots not appropriate

    World Health Organisation experts warned on Tuesday that repeating booster doses of the original Covid vaccines is not a viable strategy against emerging variants.

    “A vaccination strategy based on repeated booster doses of the original vaccine composition is unlikely to be appropriate or sustainable,” the WHO Technical Advisory Group on Covid-19 Vaccine Composition (TAG-Co-VAC) said in a statement.

    It said preliminary data indicates that the existing vaccines were less effective at preventing symptomatic Covid disease in people who have contracted the new Omicron variant, currently spreading like wildfire around the world.

    It recommended developing vaccines that not only protect people against falling seriously ill but could also better prevent infection and transmission in the first place.

  • Factcheck: Sindh is not closing down schools, offices because of Covid

    Factcheck: Sindh is not closing down schools, offices because of Covid

    A notification circulating all over social media stating that schools and offices are being closed until January 31 is fake. The notice was allegedly issued by the provincial government. However, the spokesperson of the Sindh government, Murtaza Wahab has denied that the provincial government issued any notification on the lockdown and closure of schools.

    Murtaza Wahab also said previously, in a high-level meeting, that the provincial government does not want to take strict action and requested people to follow precautionary measures to avoid the spread of the virus.

    The emergence of cases related to the omicron variant of coronavirus have exceeded 50 percent in the province, especially in Karachi.

    Meanwhile, the Sindh Minister for Health, Dr Azra Pechuho said on Thursday that the lockdown could be imposed after assessing the cases of omicron variant which is increasing steadily day by day.

    She also revealed that 500 cases have been reported during the last 24 hours which shows a widespread increase of the new strain of coronavirus.

  • ‘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.

  • New strain of Coronavirus detected in France, investigation underway

    New strain of Coronavirus detected in France, investigation underway

    French scientists have identified a new variant of coronavirus with 46 mutations, named IHU or variant B.1.640.2. It infected 12 people in Southeast France.

    According to the hospital, IHU Mediterranee in Marseille, the strain of coronavirus was detected in early December in a traveller who returned to France from the African country, Cameroon who reportedly infected 12 people. This new strain has more mutations than the omicron variant of coronavirus.

    The paper was published in a preprint server for Health Sciences, medRxiv, in which researchers found that “46 mutations” have not been spotted in any other countries nor recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

    The authors of the paper said, “subsequent detection … of three mutations in the spike gene to screen for variants … did not correspond to the pattern of the delta variant involved in almost all SARS-CoV-2 infections at that time.”

    It is not yet decided by scientists if the new strain is infectious as compared to the omicron variant though it has more mutation than omicron.

    An epidemiologist and fellow at the Federation of American Scientists, Feigl Ding said, “What makes a variant more well-known and dangerous is its ability to multiply because of the number of mutations it has in relation to the original virus.”

    He continued, “This is when it becomes a ‘variant of concern’ — like omicron, which is more contagious and more past immunity evasive. It remains to be seen in which category this new variant will fall.”

    Earlier, Israel detected the first case of Florana disease which is a double infection of covid and influenza on December 30, 2021.

  • Half of the covid cases in Sindh are of omicron variant: Sindh govt

    Half of the covid cases in Sindh are of omicron variant: Sindh govt

    The Sindh government has announced, in the meeting held on Monday, that the emergence cases related to the omicron variant of coronavirus have exceeded 50 percent in the province, especially in Karachi.

    A high-level meeting was held which was presided over by the Chief Minister of Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah to discuss the worsening situation of covid in the province which accelerated from the new variant, omicron. The brief was given by the Sindh Health Department to the Chief Minister regarding the alarming situation of the new wave of coronavirus.

    According to reports by provincial health officials, 351 samples were taken from positive covid patients for analysis, out of which 175 patients were found to be infected with the omicron variant.

    The meeting was attended by the concerned government officials including Dr Bari of Indus Hospital and Provincial Minister Health Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho.

    It was informed in the meeting that the number of covid cases has surged from the last 30 days. The new cases reported on December 3 were 261 and it exceeded 403 new cases of covid on January 2 this year.

    The Chief Minister claimed the situation is alarming and asked the health department to speed up the tests and initiate the vaccination drive on a large scale.

    Statistics were also shared in the meeting that during the last 30 days, the number of covid positive patients who died was 51. Out of 51 patients, 40 were on ventilators, six were on ventilators, five were at home.

    In the meeting, it was informed to the Chief Minister that until now, 29,579,471 vaccine doses had been administrated across Sindh province.

    The spokesperson for the Sindh government Barrister Murtaza Wahab said that the provincial government does not want to take strict action and requested people to follow precautionary measures to avoid the spread of the virus.

  • More than 4500 flights cancelled as Omicron impacts flight crews

    Over 4500 flights have been cancelled around the world and thousands more delayed due to the outbreak of the highly infectious Omicron variant of coronavirus, reports Al Jazeera.

    At least 2,000 flights were cancelled worldwide on Christmas Day.

    According to the tracking website flightaware.com, 616 flights originating from or headed to the United States (US) airports were cancelled and more than 8,000 were delayed.

    Pilots, flights attendants and other staff have been calling in sick or having to quarantine after exposure to Covid, forcing international airlines (Lufthansa, Delta, United Airlines) to cancel flights during one of the years peak travel periods.

    United Airlines who cancelled 185 flights on Christmas eve, in a statement, said, “The nationwide spike in Omicron cases this week has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation.”

    Earlier this week, it was reported that the rapidly spreading Omicron variant is the dominant Covid strain in the US, representing 73 per cent of sequenced cases.

  • Balochistan detects 32 cases of Omicron, all from one district

    Balochistan detects 32 cases of Omicron, all from one district

    During a vaccination and diagnostic process, 32 suspected cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 have been reported in Balochistan’s Kalat district, reports Geo News.

    The suspect cases have been confirmed by Kalat District Health Officer (DHO) Nasrullah Lango. He said that the samples taken from the suspected patients have been sent to the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad.

    All the suspected patients don’t have any travel history. As of now, the condition of the patients is stable and they have been quarantined in their homes. Moreover, doctors have also been told to be careful.

    The DHO said that the suspected patients include a woman who recently delivered a baby.

    However, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has not confirmed the news but Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Quddus Bizenjo has sought a report from the health department.

    Last week, NCOC confirmed the first-ever case of the Omicron variant in Karachi, Sindh.

    The Covid-19 positivity rate stands at 0.65 per cent in Pakistan today.

  • Britain confirms first Omicron coronavirus variant death

    Britain confirms first Omicron coronavirus variant death

    British Prime Minister (PM) Boris Johnson confirmed the first global death from the swiftly spreading strain of the Omicron variant on Monday, reports Reuters.

    However, it is not clear if the deceased had been vaccinated or had underlying health issues.

    “Sadly at least one patient has now been confirmed to have died with Omicron. I think the idea is that this is somehow a milder version of the virus. That’s something we need to set to one side and just recognise the sheer pace at which it accelerates through the population,” Johnson stated.

    When asked about the lifting of tougher restrictions, PM avoided giving a direct answer. However, British Health Secretary Sajid Javid said he knew of no plans for additional measures.

    The first Omicron cases were detected in Britain on November 27. Before this confirmation, 10 people (ranging from 18 to 85 years) were hospitalised with Omicron, most had received two vaccination doses as the virus can overcome the immunity of those who have had two shots of vaccines such as AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech.

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) suggests that the Omicron may be less severe than the Delta variant as all cases reported in the European region have been mild.

    In Pakistan, National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) confirmed the first case of the Omicron variant in Pakistan on Monday.

  • NCOC confirms first case of Omicron variant in Pakistan

    The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has confirmed the first case of the Omicron variant in Pakistan.

    “The National Institute of Health, Islamabad has been able to confirm that a recently suspected sample from Karachi is indeed the ‘Omicron variant’ of SARS-CoV2. This is the first confirmed case but continued surveillance of identified samples is in place to identify trends,” a tweet from the official Twitter handle of the Centre read.

    In another tweet, NCOC stressed upon the importance of getting vaccinated to stay safe from new variants.

    On December 8, the first suspected case of the Omicron variant was detected in Pakistan. The case was detected in a 57-year-old female patient, who was unvaccinated. As per, Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho the patient had no travel history.

  • Moderna chief warns vaccines less effective against Omicron, doctor who discovered it says it is mild

    Moderna chief warns vaccines less effective against Omicron, doctor who discovered it says it is mild

    Moderna Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Stephane Bancel said that the existing vaccines might get failed to protect against a new variant of coronavirus, Omicron, reports DW

    Banel added that there are a large number of mutations in the latest variant that anti-bodies induced in vaccines may not resist.

    “There is no world, I think, where [the effectiveness] is the same level… we had with Delta,” she said, adding, “I think it’s going to be a material drop. I just don’t know how much because we need to wait for the data. But all the scientists I’ve talked to… are like ‘this is not going to be good.” Banel told.

    The comments given by Banel raised the fears against the low-level resistance of existing antibodies in vaccines, which could lead to more sickness and hospitalisation.

    It will take days to several weeks to understand the severity of the Omicron variant however, Dr Angelique Coetzee, the South African doctor who first spotted the new Covid variant Omicron claimed that the mild symptoms were spotted in the patients so far, reports BBC

    The emergence of Omicron alarmed the whole world. It is drastically spreading in European countries and the first case was reported in India on Tuesday. Several countries already banned the flights from the countries where it first originated including Pakistan.