Chennai: ‘In case of the third wave due to Omicron, the surge is very fast in comparison with the first and second wave. This shows Tamilnadu might see up to 1.5 lakh cases per day soon,’ said Dr C Ravichandran, Professor of Pediatrics & HOD, Pediatric Hematology & Oncology, ICH, Madras Medical College.
He said this while speaking at a special media workshop titled āInteractive Session with Mediapersons on Omicron Surge, Vaccination of Target Groups, Covid awareness and preparednessā here Monday.
He said mutation of virus and bacteria are usual phenomena. There should be awareness among the public on the mutation and there is no need to panic.
‘Likewise, during the pandemic the virus will reach its peak and will reduce gradually and it is same all over the world. In future, Covid will also become like any other virus like influenza,’ he added.
The increase in the daily positivity shows that there is a community spread happening. This is happening throughout the country and not only in Tamilnadu, he stated..
He said in Omicron cases, only 1.6 per cent patients need hospitalisation. However, there is a large number of people who are not coming out for testing fearing they would be taken to hospital. He requested the media to create awareness among these segments, so that the community spread can be arrested.
That vaccination would prevent Covid is completely myth, he said and added vaccine will however reduce the impact of Covid and the hospitalisation is not needed in many vaccinated cases. Tamilnadu is lagging behind in vaccination, especially only 40 per cent of the people who are above 60 are vaccinated in TN, he said.
Omicron is milder infection but spreads rapidly, so we can’t take the current surge lightly, the expert warned.
State Health and Family Welfare Principal Secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan said Omicron variant is the reason behind the sudden rise of Covid-19 cases in the State.
Radhakrishnan said only one per cent of Covid patients of ICU in hospitals are utilized so for. Besides creating awareness among the public, the State government is proactively taking steps to control the spread of the pandemic, he stated.
For a pandemic like corona which challenges us to create a change in the public behaviour with the available facts, it is the responsibility of the media, which plays an important role in sensitising the people, to take the facts to them, he said.
Dr K T S Selvavinayagam, Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Government of Tamilnadu, said new information is arising daily on Covid-19 because of the new findings in the field by the experts. With the new findings it is the responsibility of the government as well as the media to create awareness among the public by presenting the facts properly, he added.
The workshop at Health and Family Welfare Training Centre in Egmore, Chennai was organised by the Press Information Bureau of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, in association with the Health and Family Welfare Department of the Tamil Nadu Government and UNICEF.
M Annadurai, Additional Director General, PIB Chennai, B Gurubabu, Director, PIB Chennai and J Kamaraj, Director, Regional Outreach Bureau, Chennai were present at the workshop.