New Delhi: Even though some cities or states in India may be beginning to see plateauing of Covid cases, the risk persists and focus must be on reducing transmission and implementing situation-specific measures, senior WHO official Poonam Khetrapal Singh said.
The Health ministry said on Thursday that early indications of Covid cases plateauing have been reported in certain geographies in the country but the trend needs to be observed.
Responding to a question that Coronavirus cases have started plateauing in India, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia Region said the risk of COVID-19 remains high and no country, irrespective of their current transmission scenario, is "out of the woods" yet.
"Hence, even though some cities or states may be beginning to see plateauing of cases, the risk persists. We need to continue to remain vigilant. Our focus must be on reducing transmission. Implementing situation-specific public health and social measures and increasing vaccine coverage — that's the way forward for all countries in the ongoing pandemic," Singh told PTI in an interview.
With 2,35,532 people testing positive for the Coronavirus infection in a day, India's total tally of cases increased to over 4.08 crore, according to the Union Health ministry data updated on Saturday.
The death toll has climbed to 4,93,198 with 871 fatalities reported during the 24-hour period, the data updated at 8 am showed.
The active cases decreased by 1,01,278 to reach 20,04,333 — 4.91 per cent of the total infections — while the country's recovery rate stands at 93.89 per cent, the ministry said.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 13.39 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate was 16.89 per cent, according to the Health ministry.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,83,60,710, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.21 per cent, the ministry said.
After the Saturday update, the total number of infections stands at 4,08,58,241, it said.
India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 165.6 crore with more than 53 lakh vaccine doses administered on Saturday, the Union Health ministry said.
The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late tonight, the ministry said.
Cumulatively, 53,96,51,188 first doses have been administered to those in the 18-44 age group and 40,19,58,479 second doses have been given in the same age group since the start of phase-3 of the vaccination drive, according to ministry data.
On the other hand, asked if the pandemic is entering endemic stages, Singh said, currently "we are still in the midst of the pandemic and the focus should be to curtail the virus spread and save lives".
She added: "By becoming endemic doesn't mean that the virus will not be a cause of concern."
Compared to the COVID-19's Delta variant, she said Omicron is able to more rapidly infect the tissues of the upper respiratory tract rather than the lungs, which may also help the spread of this variant.
"There appears to be a lower risk of severe disease and death following Omicron infection as compared to other variants. However, due to the very high numbers of cases, many countries have seen a significant increase in the incidence of hospitalization, putting pressure on healthcare systems," she said.
Data suggests that infection with Omicron may be associated with a lower risk of hospitalisation compared to infection with Delta, Singh said, but noted that the severity of illness increases with age and in the presence of underlying medical conditions and among people who are not vaccinated.
She stressed the need to rapidly accelerate efforts to vaccinate all at-risk populations in all countries.
"There is growing evidence on vaccine effectiveness for Omicron, but we still have a lot to learn. So far, we think that vaccines are less effective against Omicron infection and symptomatic disease compared to Delta. Having a booster shot seems to increase protection," she said.
However, vaccines still seem to remain highly effective at protecting people against serious illness, hospitalisation, and death, she said, adding that vaccines remain an effective method to reduce the likelihood of severe disease caused by the Omicron variant.