Amidst the increasing threat of influenza across the world, Corona cases have started increasing again. For example, the entire family of a doctor in Kerala got infected with Covid-19 in recent days. First the middle-aged doctor got infected and then his wife and then his parents also got infected. The elderly parents had to be admitted to the hospital.
Doctors say that the immunity obtained from the vaccine is now weakening. Secondly, winter season is also causing increase in cases. There are currently 194 active cases in Kerala. This is 61 percent of the total cases in the country. It is not clear whether the number of seriously ill patients with the virus has increased. However, state governments have started exercising vigilance.
Covid infection was found in 7.09 percent of 141 tests conducted in Kochi’s Rajgiri Hospital in November. Sharing the figures, Rajeev Jayadevan, co-chairman of the Covid Task Force of the National Indian Medical Association, said that the number of infected patients in last August was very low at 1.4 percent.
It increased by 2 percent in September and by 2.22 percent in October. Jayadevan says that the increase in Corona cases is not a big deal. At present, testing is not being conducted outside academic and monitoring centres. Kerala government sources told Business Standard that the government is keeping an eye on the increasing cases of Corona.
Jayadevan said that Covid is slowly making a comeback, but there is nothing surprising in it. The cases of infection are very few and there is no news of anything serious happening anywhere. He said that Covid tests are decreasing. All over the world we are currently seeing an increase in cases of influenza. Dengue is also spreading in some places.
Experts have indicated that the Omicron BA.2.86 variant and its sub-variants including JN.1 remain a cause of concern for the medical world. JN.1 is also dodging the vaccine.
Apart from Kerala, 61 cases of corona have been registered in Uttar Pradesh, 55 in Odisha, 13 in Maharashtra and 18 in Tamil Nadu. According to the bulletin of Maharashtra Health Department, weekly active cases are gradually increasing in the state. While there was not a single corona patient in the state in the first week of November, ten cases were registered between 22 and 28 November.
Dr. Roopkatha Sen, Critical Care Consultant, SRV Hospital, Chembur, Mumbai, said that she had seen the last patient suffering from Corona six months ago.
Covid is no longer a serious disease, but the immunity provided by the vaccine is weakening. Many people did not even get the booster dose and even those who got it, it had been almost a year since they got it. Therefore, there may be some increase in corona cases, especially during the winter season. Dr. Roopkatha said that there is no need to panic.
In view of the ever-increasing cases of pneumonia in China, the Maharashtra government has issued guidelines regarding full preparedness in hospitals to deal with the crisis. Dr. Sen says that when a patient suffering from influenza (H1N1 or other virus) is admitted to the hospital, he is kept in quarantine for five days, so that the infection does not spread to the medical personnel and other patients. Separate arrangements are made for such patients in ICU.
Senior virologist Jacob John says that the strains of the virus are changing their form, but the sub-variant of Omicron is in circulation. Some strains can evade immunity, but the situation is unlikely to be serious.
In this regard, he gives the example of China and says that the cases of pneumonia are increasing rapidly there, but this is not the case in Taiwan, whereas the movement of people between the two countries is very high. As far as the increasing pneumonia in China is concerned, it could be an after effect of the strict lockdown.