Pune, Dec 30 (UNI) Dr Naresh Purohit, the Principal Investigator for the National Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme, on Thursday shared scientific insights about Omicron and averred that speedy vaccination is the only way to combat the new COVID variant.
Talking to UNI, the noted epidemiologist explained, “Omicron is a more transmissible variant of SARS-CoV-2, more contagious than Delta which caused the second wave of the pandemic in India. Within a month after the first Omicron cases were detected in India, the total number of Omicron cases reached 961 on Thursday.”
He continued, “The highest cases were reported in Delhi and Maharashtra. The first cases of Omicron in India were foreign travellers who contracted the variant, first detected in South Africa, from abroad. All first cases of Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka were international travellers.”