WHO scientist Dr Swaminathan warns unvaccinated population can 'overwhelm health systems'

As cases of Coronavirus has been increasing since past few days, a top scientist at the World Health Organization said that the hospitalisation rate is still rising among the unvaccinated population. According to the Chief scientist of the WHO Dr Soumya Swaminathan, hospitalisation across the world is soaring exponentially mostly due large number of people who remain unvaccinated until now. She also added that the unvaccinated people could 'overwhelm' the health systems. "Though Omicron may cause less severe disease, a small % of a huge number is still very large and can overwhelm health systems," she posted while replying to a tweet of renowned American cardiologist, Eric Topol on Friday.

Have a look at the tweet of Dr Swaminathan here:

Further, she hailed the dedication of health workers who have been working tirelessly since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. "Kudos to health workers around the world for two years of service!" said the Chief scientist of WHO. 
Earlier on Thursday, December 30, Dr Swaminathan pointed that the COVID-19 vaccine is still effective against most variants reported until now. Though she acknowledged that the Omicron variant is affecting both vaccinated and unvaccinated, she appealed to the people to get their dose at the earliest. She noted that the vaccine does not let the virus take a deadly turn.

Omicron variant becoming dominant in India

Notably, in the third week of November, scientists in South Africa identified the new COVID variant called B.1.1529, or Omicron. The announcement prompted several countries to either restrict international travel or tighten their grip by formulating the popular "TTT" strategy-- Tracing, Testing and Treatment. Despite the regular updates from the global health agencies, the situation is not clear whether the new variant is more lethal than earlier variants or whether the vaccine affects the Omicron variant or not.

While in India, Omicron has already started replacing Delta as the dominant variant, a health official told Republic Media Network on December 31. Citing the example, the official said that the country had reported its first case of Omicron on December 2. Within a month, the cases have infected at least 23 Indian states and Union territories. According to the health bulletin, India registered 1,270 cases of Omicron virus in which Maharashtra has recorded the maximum number of 450 cases followed by Delhi at 320, Kerala 109 and Gujarat 97.

Image: Twitter/@doctorsoumya/Pixabay