Bhopal: Authorities in Madhya Pradesh have set up a special 30-bed isolation ward in view of the spike in COVID cases triggered by the new Omicron sub variant BA 2.75. Set up at Jaypee Hospital in Bhopal, the special isolation ward will be monitored through CCTV, an official said. According to the hospital's superintendent Rajesh Srivastava, JP Hospital also has two in-house oxygen plants to deal with any eventuality.
Dr SP Dubey, a member of the Madhya Pradesh Covid Advisory Committee, said that the new variant has started showing its effect in many countries. The variant can also dodge the antibodies from the existing vaccine, Dr Dubey said. The new variant is believed to be a sub variant of Omicron including many mutants in BA 2.75.
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It has two completely different mutants, G446S and R493Q which are not found in the parent strain BA.2. "Those who were considered safe till now, they too have an increased risk of infection,” Dr Dubey said, adding people have stopped following the Corona guidelines including wearing of masks. In Madhya Pradesh, there were 33 positive patients two months ago on May 6 with a positivity rate of 0.4, which marginally increased to 0.7 on June 6.
However, in the last month, the positivity rate has shot up to 1.6 indicating the level of COVID spike in the state. Dr Dubey believes that the proportion of infections can be more, because due to the elections, the tests are not being done as they should be. “There was a time when 70 to 80 thousand tests were done daily, but now the figure has been reduced to 6 to 7 thousand.
If tests are increased, then definitely patients numbers will increase. People need to be careful in this situation," he said. “How lethal it is and how much effect it will have in the future, it is too early to say," he said. Health Minister Prabhu Ram Chaudhary said the government was prepared to face any situation. He appealed people to follow the COVID protocols.
