Last Updated on December 3, 2021 by Admin
Recently we came to know about new variant of Corona virus i.e. Omicron which break out in South Africa and that is expected to be more deadly as per the reports of W.H.O. It is also heard from various news that Omicron has already spread in more than 28 countries and will likely to spread speedily to more continent.
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Omicron—next variant of Corona (third wave of COVID-19)
WHO designated the variant B.1.1.529 a variant of Corona virus, named Omicron on the advice of WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution (TAG-VE). It is not yet clear whether Omicron is more transmissible (e.g., more easily spread from person to person) as compared to earlier variants of COVID-19. However cases has risen in areas of South Africa affected by this variant.
Severity of Omicron virus:
As per WHO reports, study & research is underway to know whether infection with Omicron causes more severe disease as compared to infections with earlier variants of COVID-19. Preliminary data suggests that there are increasing rates of hospitalization in South Africa, but this may be due to increasing overall numbers of people becoming infected, rather than a result of specific infection with Omicron. Currently as such no information about the symptoms associated with Omicron.
At initial stage infections were noted among university students, younger individuals who tend to have more mild disease. But it will take further time to understand the level of severity of the Omicron variant among the infected patients. However as per the opinions of various doctors/medical associations, Omicron may turn to more deadly position and can cause severe disease or death particularly for the most vulnerable people. Thus prevention is always better than cure.
Effectiveness of existing vaccines on Omicron
WHO is working with technical teams to understand the potential impact of this variant on infected persons and whether existing vaccines would be able to reduce or cure the impact or not. How much and upto what level the current vaccines will remain effective on this Omicron variant is yet to be revealed. There is no doubt that current vaccines remain effective against earlier Corona variants including Delta. Let’s hope for the best and be precautious.
Impact of COVID-19 on Indian Economy during 2020 and 2021
After the outbreak of the COVID-19 during the early 2020 and then complete lock down of 45 days during March-May,2020 in India imposed by the Govt., Indian economy fall down very badly. All businesses whether big or small were come to stop line.
Except things of daily necessity like food, milk and medicals etc. anything else was not allowed during lockdown. Most of the population of India work in private sector or do small business on self employed basis. But all of them were impacted very badly as millions of people have lost their jobs and millions of small business units, shops etc. were shut down due to COVID-19 pandemic conditions.
Period of April, 2020 to August, 2020 was full of panic and people were very scary of COVID infections and their costly treatment in private hospitals. Conditions of partial lock down in metro cities like Mumbai and Delhi etc. was kept continued till the end of September, 2020. Even in other states also curfew were imposed in Red & yellow zones. Lower class and middle-class families suffered a lot during this period of pandemic.
After the long hardship of Govt. as well as general public, things started moving smoothly from October, 2020 onwards and most of the offices, businesses, markets and industries started working full time. Then Indian economy also started moving to back on track slowly.
Till the month of March,2021 everything was settled back but suddenly Delta variant of COVID-19 which is known to be second wave started increase in corona positive cases again during April, 2021 which spread very fast in major parts of our country.
This time Delta variant emerged to be more severe decease because infected people faced lack of oxygen in their lungs and death rate increased very rapidly. This was the bad luck of such people because due to high demand of oxygen in hospitals they started shortage of oxygen cylinders and current oxygen plants were not able to complete the supply of oxygen cylinders on immediate basis. Due to that thousands of people couldn’t get the treatment in hospitals at that time.
Later Govt. tried their level best to bring the oxygen cylenders from other countries and various oxygen plants were setup to fulfill the demand of oxygen for treatment of Corona positive patients. Vaccination drive was done on very fast track and even people come forward to get the vaccination as early as possible.
By the end of August,2021 the critical situation of second wave of COVID-19 was under control as corona positive cases decreased to minimum level by that time. However, this was again a dent on Indian economy due to disruption of work during this second wave of Delta variant. GDP of India which was moving on track had suddenly put on quick break during the second wave and shake up the economy once again.
But after the end of second wave of COVID-19 in India, now GDP has increased tremendously and every thing is back on track. People are doing whatever they want to do without any restrictions on their businesses.
Govt. is getting record GST and other revenue from general public as compared to past which shows that Indian economy is running like a fast-track train. Keeping in this mind, the Govt. of India had decided to start international flights from 15th December, 2021 so that we can zoom on international trade as well.
Foreign investors shown their trust in Indian economy and have invested billions of their funds in Indian stock market as well as Indian businesses. During the month of October-November, 2021 growth rate of Indian economy was at its all time high.
Will new variant of corona i.e. Omicron virus hit the Indian Economy badly? How much Impact of Omicron on India is anticipated?
Experts are anticipating that as compared to earlier variants of COVID, Omicron is 5 time more fast in terms of transmission i.e. spreading speed of infection among the people. It means that if proper and adequate steps are not taken on time to stop the spreading of this variant of COVID then it may turn to very panicky situation which may take more dangerous shape as compared to phase-1 & 2 waves of Corona in India.
Currently most of the public places, offices, school, colleges, markets, banks and industries etc. are open and billions of people are travelling from one place to another place every day to do their jobs and business. Even people are travelling overseas so there are likely chances that the Omicron variant of corona may take silent entry to India any time and spread the infection very fast within few days.
Infact, as per the media news, 2 positive cases of Omicron were found in Karnataka and 2 cases were tested Omicron positive in Chandigarh who had travelled from South Africa recently. Since this variant is claimed to be 5 time faster than earlier variants so it is very important to take urgent steps to stop further spreading of infection on immediate basis otherwise it may turn to un-controllable situation later on.
Central govt. and state govts may put restrictions or impose certain conditions for day-to-day activities, travels, markets, public places etc. to stop spreading of this new variant of corona virus. This will again affect the daily business and trade activities of general public in India and put little dent on Indian economy.
However, it is also expected that since covid vaccination have been done on very large scale where more than 1 billion people in India already took their first dose & likely to get their second dose soon. Health ministry of India is hopeful that variant B.1.1.529 of Corona virus, named as Omicron may not hit the large numbers as was in the past when there was no vaccination.
On the other hand it is also coming in news that this new variant is more severe for cases who had COVID in the past and to the younger age people so it is very important for us to keep continue & follow COVID-19 guidelines in strict manner like social distancing, wearing masks & sanitization etc. This way we can handle any situation successfully. Prevention is always better.
Govt. is likely to take further preventive steps to tackle this situation. Even various state govts have also started issuing their advisories to their concerned departments in this regard.
Let’s hope for the best and pray to God so that Omicron do not hammer Indian economy very badly. There is no doubt that India is one of the largest and strongest economy in the world and it has potential to back track very fast after small dips and drops. This is the reason why businessmen around the world are investing their money in Indian market.
India is already going on its way to become 5 trillion economy in the world very soon.
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Admin
www.moneyvalue365.com
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