NEW DELHI: Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya told Lok Sabha on Friday that 18 passengers out of 16,000 who were screened after arriving from ‘at-risk’ countries have tested positive for Covid-19. Their samples have been sent for genome sequencing to find out if they are infected with the Omicron variant. Results are awaited.
Stating that a decision on vaccines for children will be taken on the basis of scientific inputs, Mandaviya asserted that timely actions of the Centre before the pandemic began spreading ensured low fatality and cases per million, compared to other countries.
The minister, speaking after a discussion on the situation caused by the pandemic under Rule 193 in Lok Sabha, accused the Opposition of creating panic. The government, he said, worked expeditiously with faith in the scientific community, which helped the availability of vaccines in record time.
He also said the swab samples of the affected passengers have been sent for genome sequencing to screen for the Omicron variant of the virus.
After several members had flagged the issue of booster doses of COVID vaccines and had expressed concern over the new variant of the virus during the debate on Thursday, he said a decision on a booster dose and vaccines for children will be taken on the basis of scientific guidance from experts.
In a written reply, Mandaviya said the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) and the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC) are deliberating and considering scientific evidences related to this aspect.
The minister's remarks came against the backdrop of the assessment by the country's top genome scientists that a booster dose "may be considered" for people above 40 years.
"Vaccination of all remaining unvaccinated at-risk people and consideration of a booster dose for those 40 years of age and over, first targeting the most high-risk / high-exposure may be considered," the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Sequencing Consortium (INSACOG) said in its weekly bulletin dated November 29.
The INSACOG is a network of national testing labs set up by the government to monitor genomic variations of COVID-19.
The country's first two cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 were recorded in Karnataka--in a 66-year-old South African flyer and a 46-year-old Bengaluru doctor with no travel history and both men fully vaccinated.
“There were times when it took three or more years to develop vaccines. Sometimes, the developers left the efforts on the way because of the delay. But the government acted with speed and cut the roadblocks to clear the vaccines within a year. The joint committee to look into the response of the government against Covid was constituted even before the first case was reported in Kerala,” said Mandaviya.
“The Central government did not indulge in a blame game about lack of health infrastructure and set out to scaling up the facilities in response to the Covid pandemic, which showed the political will of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” added the minister.
Discussion under Rule 193 doesn’t entail voting. Discussions on the pandemic situation ran for two days, with a number of MPs taking part in the debate in the Lower House till late in the evening on Thursday, which helped the House achieve record productivity of over 200 per cent.
The Centre on Friday said it anticipates the severity of the Omicron variant of coronavirus to be low in the country given the fast pace of vaccination and high exposure to the Delta variant, a day after the first two cases of the new variant was reported in Karnataka, and that a decision on a COVID vaccine booster dose will be on the basis of scientific guidance from experts.
The Union Health Ministry, however, said the scientific evidence for the expected severity of the disease is still evolving, as debates about the booster jabs heat up and several states ramp up testing and step up surveillance for the potentially more contagious variant.
It also noted there is no evidence to suggest that existing vaccines do not work on the new variant that was reported by South Africa to the World Health Organisation (WHO) on November 24.
The Karnataka government, meanwhile, ordered a probe into test reports of the foreign national that allowed him to leave India.
The Health Ministry also issued a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the Omicron variant and said while there is no evidence to suggest that existing vaccines do not work on the variant some of the mutations reported may decrease the efficacy of the jabs.
It, however, underscored that definitive evidence for the new variant's increased remission and immune evasion is awaited.
Omicron cases are increasingly being reported from countries outside of South Africa and given its characteristics, it is likely to spread to more countries, including India, it said.
"However, the scale and magnitude of the rise in cases and the severity of the disease are still not clear."
"Further, given the fast pace of vaccination in India and high exposure to delta variant as evidenced by high seropositivity, the severity of the disease is anticipated to be low. However, scientific evidence is still evolving," the Health Ministry said.
From the list of FAQs, the ministry, answering whether the existing vaccines work against the Omicron variant, said, "While, there is no evidence to suggest that existing vaccines do not work on Omicron, some of the mutations reported on spike gene may decrease the efficacy of existing vaccines."
However, vaccine protection is also by antibodies as well as by cellular immunity, which is expected to be relatively better preserved.
Hence, vaccines are expected to still offer protection against severe disease and vaccination is crucial.
If eligible one should get vaccinated, it added.
The ministry also stressed that the precautions and steps to be taken remain the same as before.
"It's essential to mask yourself properly, take both doses of vaccines (if not yet vaccinated), maintain social distancing and maintain good ventilation to the maximum possible."
The ministry said that variants are a normal part of evolution and as long as the virus can infect, replicate and transmit, they will continue to evolve.
"Further, not all variants are dangerous and most often than not, we don't notice them. Only when they are more infectious or can reinfect people they gain prominence. The most important step to avoid the generation of variants is to reduce the number of infections."
A member of the Maharashtra government's COVID-19 task force, meanwhile, said a booster dose of vaccine, even if it works, is just a "temporary fix", and that vigilance, genome sequencing, improving border surveillance and vaccination are some of the things that are necessary to tackle the new Omicron variant.
The task force member, Dr Vasant Nagvekar, who is a consultant on infectious diseases at a Mumbai-based hospital, said in a statement that although there was no need to panic, the Omicron variant is definitely a cause of concern.
"Scientific data has proven that masks can reduce COVID-19 transmission by 53 per cent. A booster dose of vaccine, even if it works, is just a temporary fix. We can't keep on taking boosters every six months and for every variant of concern that emerges. Masking is the need of the hour and there is no alternative for vaccination," he said.
In Bengaluru, the probe into the South African national's COVID test came after questions were raised on how he managed to get a negative report within three days after testing positive for COVID on arrival and also about him reportedly attending some official meeting, and leaving the country even as his genomic sequencing reports were awaited.
"The person (66-year-old) had isolated at a hotel and he has gone from there (outside the country). First his (COVID test) report came positive and then re-test came negative. Whether there was any mishandling, whether the lab tests were accurate or was there any wrongdoing, the police commissioner has been directed to investigate this," Revenue Minister R Ashoka said.
Speaking to reporters after a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, he said the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike(BBMP) Commissioner has been directed to file a case at the city's High Ground Police Station in this regard.
Amid some reports that at least 10 South African travellers have gone untraceable after reaching Bengaluru, the state government also directed officials to look into it, trace them immediately and get them tested.
In West Bengal, a senior official of the health department said the state government is planning to soon conduct trials of COVID-19 vaccine booster shots in the metropolis, and has started feasibility tests at different medical establishments.
Six hospitals have come forward so far, expressing their willingness to be part of the trials, he said.
"We are conducting feasibility tests in the city, where we are planning to have trials of the booster dose."
Omicron FAQ released by health ministry
Q Can the currently used diagnostics methods detect Omicron?
The most accepted method is RT-PCR. This method detects specific genes in the virus, such as Spike (S), Enveloped (E) and Nucleocapsid (N) etc to confirm the presence of virus. However, in case of Omicron, as the S gene is heavily mutated, some of the primers may lead to results indicating absence of the S gene (called as S gene drop out). For final confirmation of Omicron, genomic sequencing is required.
Q How concerned should we be about Omicron?
WHO declares a variant as a Variant of Concern after assessment when there is increase in transmissibility or detrimental change in COVID-19 epidemiology; OR increase in virulence or change in clinical disease presentation; OR decrease in effectiveness of public health and social measures or available diagnostics, vaccines, therapeutics. It is important to highlight that Omicron has been declared VoC based on the observed mutations, their predicted features of increased transmission and immune evasion, and preliminary evidence of detrimental change in COVID-19 epidemiology, such as increased reinfections.
Q What precautions should we take?
Precautions and steps to be taken remain same as before. It is essential to mask yourself properly, take both doses of vaccines, maintain social distancing and maintain good ventilation to the maximum possible.
Q Will there be a third wave?
Omicron cases are increasingly being reported from countries outside of South Africa and given its characteristics, it is likely to spread to more countries including India. However, the scale and magnitude of rise in cases and most importantly the severity of disease that will be caused is still not clear. Given the fast pace of vaccination in India and high exposure to Delta variant as evidenced by high seropositivity, the severity of the disease is anticipated to be low. However, scientific evidence is still evolving.
Q Will the existing vaccines work against Omicron?
While there is no evidence to suggest that existing vaccines do not work on Omicron, some of the mutations reported on the Spike gene may decrease the efficacy of existing vaccines. However, vaccine protection is also by antibodies as well as by cellular immunity, which is expected to be relatively better preserved. Hence vaccines are expected to still offer protection against severe disease and, vaccination with the available vaccines is crucial.
(With PTI Inputs)