Double-dose vaccination, booster shot, and exposure to previous COVID-19 infection have so far made the Omicron cases less severe in terms of low hospitalisation rates and deaths, says CSIR-Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology director Vinay Nandicoori.
This is in contrast to the Delta wave in the summer of 2021 when vaccination rate was just 2%, and the high viral load led to unprecedented hospitalisation figures and fatalities, overwhelming the healthcare systems.
“We are in a much better place when compared to a year ago, but let there be no doubt that if Omicron was the first variant, it could have caused as much havoc as seen in Hong Kong among the unvaccinated and those with comorbidities,” he points out, in an exclusive interaction.
