Dr Naresh Purohit, visiting professor at the University of Health Sciences, Kolkata, West Bengal, said on Friday that the third wave of COVID-19 in India is over, but health officials should not assume that the pandemic is over. Dr Purohit said that looking at the current global scenario, especially Omicron‘s redesigned XE may lead to the fourth wave, hence there is a special need to follow other Corona guidelines including masks. Recently, expressing concern in the case of a suspected patient of a new form of corona in the country XE, eminent epidemiologist Dr. Found for the first time in the UK. Which is spreading 10 percent faster than the previous variant of Corona.
He said India had been affected by Omicron in the third wave, although the third wave had a much lower mortality rate compared to the delta variant in the second wave. The XE strain has about 10 to 15 per cent higher spreading capacity than both the variants of Omkron. However, not much information is yet known about its effect in terms of public health. Nor is it known what effect it can see in those who are vaccinated? He said that the Global Health Organization has warned that COVID-19 remains a matter of international concern and it is too early to reduce surveillance.
20 thousand cases reported in Shanghai
Dr Purohit, Advisor, National Communicable Disease Control Program, said that the new XE strain of Corona is recombinant with BA.1 and BA.2 derived from Omicron variant. This Xe strain spreads 10 percent faster than BA.2 but 40 percent faster than BA.1. That said, the XE variant was first seen in some European countries in mid-January 2022. The UK Health Agency said that there have been 637 cases of the XE variant so far. More than 20,000 new cases have been reported for the Shanghai XD and XE variants.
Notice the symptoms of XE in the beginning
Dr. Purohit said that India needs to prepare well to avoid a possible outbreak of XE. He said the lifting of the Covid restrictions is right but the reduction in testing is likely to impact the country’s ability to quickly detect emerging cases. He warned that the cases of COVID are increasing rapidly in many countries of Asia and Europe. At present the situation in India is under control, but past experience indicates that the situation may soon spiral out of control if adequate monitoring is not maintained. Shri Purohit said that to face the fourth wave, there is no need to panic but there is a need to be careful.