Amid a massive increase in new coronavirus cases in the country, the symptoms of Covid-19 and its severity in the second wave of the pandemic are causing a lot of concern.
In view of this, Indian Council of Medical Research Director General Dr Balram Bhargava explained the difference in symptom severity saying that the symptoms of Coivd-19 in this wave are much lower than in the year last.
“If you see the symptoms, the severity is much less this time around. In this wave, we witnessed more cases of shortness of breath while in the last wave, the symptoms like dry cough, joint pain, aches and pains. of head were more “, explained Dr. Bhargava, according to news agency ANI.
He also said that the RT-PCR test is the gold standard for testing. “We are measuring two or more genes, therefore there is no chance of missing the detection of a mutant,” he said of concerns about mutant viral strains and their detection by RT-PCR. .
Bhargava also said there was no difference in the percentage of deaths between the first and second wave.
He added that only a marginally high proportion of COVID-19 patients are younger and that the average of patients in the first wave was 50 years old and in this wave it was 49 years old. He also said the elderly population continues to be more vulnerable to being admitted to hospital in the current wave.
“From zero to 19 – the difference was 5.8% versus 4.2%, and in 20 to 40 years the difference was 25% versus 23%. There is a marginal difference to that. Over 70 % were greater than or equal to 40. More asymptomatic individuals were admitted this year than a higher proportion of patients admitted with shortness of breath, ”he said.
He also said that the asymptomatic / mild illness can be managed at home and does not require hospitalization and also added that the need for ventilators in the second wave is not high.
“There is no change in the death rate between wave 1 and wave 2. Similar trends are observed in all states as this is national data from a national registry that has been collected only from hospitalized patients, so it’s 10,000 hospitalized patients being analyzed, ”added Dr Bhargava.
The head of ICMR further felt that there was a great deal of laxity regarding the pandemic and that there were also many cases of inappropriate COVID behavior. He also pointed out that the RT-PCR test measures two or more genes in the body and that there is no chance of missing the detection of a COVID-19 mutant during the test.
“I want to point out that the RT-PCR test that we use, they measure two or more genes and they never miss a test… We have always used two or more genes for testing and therefore missing is absolutely impossible. . It can find any type of mutant because it measures two or more genes at different sites, ”he told ANI.
Dr Bhargava added that the rate of transmissibility of the “double mutant” found in India has not yet been established.
Three main variants from UK, South Africa and Brazil have already been found in India.
According to the Ministry of Health, India has reported 2.73,810 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of positive cases in the country to 1.50.61,919. There were currently 19,29,329 active cases. in the country on Monday.
The death toll reached 1,789,769 with an additional 1,619 dead.
In the past 24 hours, as many as 1,44,178 people have recovered from the virus. With this, the total number of recoveries reached 1,29.53,821 in India.
With ANI entries