Need for extra precautions as Omicron becomes dominant global variant

Precautionary measures to combat the spread of Covid-19 pandemic are essential in Qatar particularly because Omicron is fast emerging as the dominant strain around the world.Recently, Qatar’s Cabinet underlined the importance of eligible people receiving the Covid-19 vaccine booster dose to ensure high levels of protection and contribute to maintaining the stability of the country’s health system.Dr Abdullatif al-Khal, chair of the National Strategic Group on Covid-19 and head of the Infectious Diseases Division at Hamad Medical Corporation said further measures will be announced soon to provide the Covid-19 vaccine booster dose to people who have taken the second dose more than six months ago.Speaking about various issues related to Covid-19, the Omicron variant and vaccination, Dr al-Khal noted Omicron is characterised by more than 50 mutations in general and that more 30 of these mutations are present on the surface of the virus. This, according to Dr al-Khal, increases the ability of the virus to spread among people. Omicron’s ability to spread is three to six times that of the Delta strain, spreading very fast within a short period.Second, it can infect a large group of people who can contract the virus by mixing with each other for a short period.He also urged people to wear masks and maintain social distancing in closed spaces, noting that the coming weeks are important.“Even with new variants emerging, vaccines remain one of the most effective tools to protect people against serious illness and death from Sars-Cov2,” said Dr Mariângela Simão, WHO assistant-director general for Access to Medicines and Health Products. “This listing aims to increase access particularly in lower-income countries, 41 of which have still not been able to vaccinate 10% of their populations, while 98 countries have not reached 40%,” Dr Simão said. Qatar has done well by maintaining one of the lowest Covid-19 death rates in the world, besides registering a fall in the number of hospital admissions and a decrease in the number of daily cases since the pandemic outbreak in early 2020. This year, the world has already lost some 3.5mn people to Covid-19 – more deaths than from HIV, malaria and tuberculosis combined in 2020.The pandemic has presented a unique set of challenges for all of us. We are still learning more and more about different strains of coronavirus every single day, but public health experts continue to warn that you don’t actually have to be exhibiting symptoms to spread the new coronavirus.A person infected with the virus can be contagious as early as three days before he or she begins showing symptoms. In addition, some people never develop symptoms, but are still able to spread the virus.The Covid-19 pandemic has placed a new level of personal accountability on each one of us. To slow the spread of coronavirus and protect the health and vitality of our people, all of us must remain committed to the extra precautions our public health officials are recommending.At the core of these preventive measures is the need for continued social distancing and take all of the precautions seriously — even if one is healthy.