Covid-19 heading to endemic stage: AIIMS doctor

Nagpur: SARS-CoV-2, commonly known as Covid-19 is heading towards an endemic stage, a senior epidemiologist at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi said on Sunday.

Senior epidemiologist Dr Sanjay Rai said, “Looking at the COVID-19 vaccination status and the natural infection, we can say that very soon, the majority of us will be getting an infection. And then this virus will convert into an endemic virus.”

Rai added that those who have recovered from Covid-19 are at the moment ‘best-protected’ people from the virus followed by the vaccinated persons. “Covid-19 is an RNA virus and the virus has mutated thousands of times. Although, the variants of concern are only five like alpha, beta, gamma delta and currently, Omicron which is a very fast transmitting disease,” he said.

He added that the overall severity is less so the majority will get the infection. Rai further said that the Omicron spread is happening in the country and mainly in the metro cities because of the population density. In the latest bulletin by the INSACOG, it stated that the Omicron variant is in the community transmission stage in India and has become dominant in multiple metros where new cases have been rising exponentially.

The bulletin further stated that most of the Omicron cases so far have been asymptomatic or mild but the hospitalisations and ICU cases have increased in this current wave and the threat level remains the same.