It would be a mistake to brand Omicron as mild: Pulmonologist Lancelot Pinto

Representational image: Reuters

Dr Lancelot M. Pinto, pulmonologist at the PD Hinduja hospital in Mumbai, says as the Omicron variant spreads, it's important to remember something we learnt early on in the Covid-19 pandemic: it is possible to contract this viral infection even from asymptomatic patients.

If there is no contact with symptomatic or asymptomatic patients, then one is safe, Dr Pinto adds. If contact is unavoidable or has happened unknowingly, then we need to be vigilant and self-isolate right away and get tested.

"If you don’t have the symptoms, wait for five days after the contact has occurred and then test. Quarantine until you test. If symptoms occur sooner, then test immediately," says Dr Pinto.

"As long as asymptomatic contact follows strict quarantine, given the current magnitude, not testing might ease the load on labs and help triage the need for RT-PCRs better," he points out.

On hospitalisation rate 

Though people are making a case of less or no hospitalization on account of Omicron, as compared to the first two deadly waves of the coronavirus, that could be a folly. "Several people, who have reported sickness for other ailments like heart attacks, kidney transplants, etc., have found to be Covid positive. So, it would be premature to arrive at conclusions,” says Dr Pinto, who believes strongly in preventive medicine, and reducing the need for hospitalizations in chronic respiratory illnesses.

According to his information, which he says is open to a double confirmation, the way things stand today, most beds are full up in Mumbai’s leading hospitals like Lilavati and Holy Family.

Could this current spurt in infections be the start of yet another titanic corona surge in the country? ``Lets us give it some more time, a week-10 days or so, and then we will be in a better position to take a call. But let’s not rule out anything for the moment,” cautions Dr Pinto, who is also careful to point out that escalation in coronavirus cases usually starts with very small numbers before it explodes into a humongous wave.

At this time in India, when two variants are making their presence felt, Omicron and Delta, how does one figure out one from the other? ``It is likely that most infections in the present surge are caused by the Omicron variant. S gene dropout on the RT-PCR is highly likely to be Omicron. The presence of the S gene, however, does not mean that this is not Omicron. This is important because the antibody cocktails presently available in India – casirivimab and indevimab or bamlanivimab and etesevimab, do not work against the Omicron variant,” he stated.

The Effectives of Indian Vaccines

And just how effective are the Indian vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin, against this new and other variants, if they emerge from time to time? ``UK has received close to three doses or even more for those with comorbidities. Yet, Omicron is playing havoc there. So, to suggest that even two doses would suffice in India would be an error, if trends in UK and elsewhere in Europe and the world are anything to go by,” Dr Pinto points out.

As for the situation for health workers – people like him included – what is the way out for them? They have been in the thick of things for close to 22 months. ``Health care workers are seriously affected. We are totally stressed out and the chances of them being asymptomatic or even infected are very high. So, there is no option but to send them into quarantine, which increases the world load on everyone concerned,” the top medic from Mumbai points out.

The other big issue with Dr Pinto is in this scramble and dance of death triggered by the pandemic, the other patients – heart patients, kidney troubles, stomach ailments to name just a few – are not even getting a chance to get inside the hospitals, which is a very serious situation indeed.

For another, the attitude of some pundits to brand Omicron as a mild version of the coronavirus, amounts to trivializing the situation. He says that even if two or five percent of the people are hospitalized, in the context of India, it is huge numbers and we just cannot be sure if we are equipped to handle the load.