EXPERTS FEAR MORE OMICRON CASES MAY HAVE ENTERED SRI LANKA

• Medical experts have urged people to get their booster doses which were freely available by the Health Ministry

By JAMILA HUSAIN  

Health authorities yesterday said they suspected that more people infected with the Omicron COVID-19 variant may be present in Sri Lanka especially since the country was welcoming tourists and Sri Lankan citizens back from countries such as UK, Europe and South Africa where Omicron had spread vastly.

  Experts have stepped up their efforts in sequencing from the samples they are receiving from several parts of the country but doctors on the ground suspect that there could be more than one Omicron patient.  

“Omicron has already spread in so many countries so it is highly doubtful that Sri Lanka is still surviving on only one patient. There could be more and we will get to know once the experts sequence the samples,” a senior doctor told Daily Mirror.   

“We cannot stop viruses from entering the country as in countries such as South Africa, the Delta variant has completely vanished and the Omicron has become the dominant variant. There may be more cases here as well and we will find out soon,” the doctor added.  

With the immunity in certain COVID-19 vaccines declining, medical experts have urged people to get their booster doses which were freely available by the Health Ministry. In fact all those above the age of 20 have been urged to get their doses, three months after their second vaccine date, as the booster dose was presently posing as a hope against the Omicron variant.   

With the on coming festive season, health experts have urged people to prevent unnecessary travel and gatherings in order to avoid another possible wave. 

 
In fact if there are more Omicron patients in the country, then experts said a rise in infections will be witnessed, but the exact consequences caused by the variant was still being studied.  

“It is still too early to say that,” doctors said.  

“But from what is predicted, there maybe hospitalization to some extent but those who receive the booster may just pass it as a mild flu. However we are studying this variant further,” doctors said.  

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has already said the Omicron variant was spreading at a rate not seen before, and there was concern that people were dismissing it as mild.  “Even if Omicron does cause less severe symptoms, the sheer number of cases could once again overwhelm unprepared health systems,” he said.  

Tedros said that vaccines alone won’t get any country out of this crisis.    

• All those above the age of 20 have been urged to get their doses, three months after their second vaccine
• The omicron coronavirus variant was spreading at a rate not seen before, and there was concern that people were dismissing it as mild
• Even if Omicron does cause less severe symptoms, the sheer number of cases could once again overwhelm unprepared health systems