COVID-19 Symptoms Cold: The number of COVID-19 cases has been on a rise in India. On Monday, the country recorded 1,79,723 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, as per the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Furthermore, 4,033 cases of Omicron variant have also been recorded.

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Now, people are concerned about the symptoms that are developing with the new variant. The cases reported in India have so far shown mild symptoms like tiredness and sore throat and most infected people are recovering from home, as per an ANI report on December 19, 2021.

A Reuters report on December 14, 2021 stated that most of the Omicron cases in the United States had only mild symptoms such as coughing, congestion and fatigue. Other symptoms reported less frequently included nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath or difficulty in breathing, diarrhea and loss of taste or smell.

Recently, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) issued a circular that stated the asymptomatic cases are laboratory confirmed cases who are not experiencing any symptoms and have oxygen saturation at room air of more than 93 per cent. The clinically assigned mild cases are patients with upper respiratory tract symptoms with or without fever, without shortness of breath and having oxygen saturation at room air of more than 93 per cent.

Furthermore, as per the revised guidelines from the MoHFW, the patients under home isolation will stand discharged and end isolation after at least 7 days have passed from testing positive and have no fever for three successive days. Furthermore, there is also no need for re-testing after the home isolation period is over.

Indian megacities Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata are experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases, although without a corresponding rise in hospitalisations, as per a Reuters report on January 6, 2022. However, the report also states that fears are growing about a spread to rural areas in coming days.

One must note that WHO continues to coordinate with a large number of researchers around the world to understand more about all variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, including Omicron. Many studies are needed, including assessments of:
1) Transmissibility, or ease of spread from person to person, of Omicron as compared to other variants
2) Severity of infection and re-infection with Omicron
3) Performance of current COVID-19 vaccines against Omicron
4) Performance of diagnostic tests, including antigen tests, to detect infection with Omicron
5) Effectiveness of current treatments for management of patients with COVID-19 disease

WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution will continue to monitor and evaluate the data as it becomes available and assess if mutations in the Omicron variant alter the behaviour of the virus.