A New Challenge

As 2021 nears its end , the world tries to move forward from the struggles of Covid-19 . It has been already 2 years since the virus started spreading in Wuhan , China , and affected the whole world . As the year ends , people carry hope in their hearts that the worst is behind them .

But a new mutation of the virus has been on WHO radars recently , dubbed Omnicron . It may not be as serious as Covid-19 is right now , but the cases are slowly increasing in number . India ( as of writing this article ) has reported 422 cases and rising . The main threats of Omnicron as a variant of Covid 19 are not its potency , but rather its quite infuriating qualities . Until now over half of the omnicron cases are asymptomatic and happen to patients who are already vaccinated . While it is not confirmed how effective the vaccine is on the new variant , the psychological fear of the public is deep .

There is a very vocal community rising against people refusing to take vaccines due to health concerns , conspiracy theories and political agendas , and they have been handed a deadly arrow for their quiver . If the new variant is not even an effective defense against the virus , who will want to take it ?

The variant not showing any symptoms is also a cause for concern . The majority people have a personal bias that they will never get affected by the virus , and only go for check up when they see one of the symptoms occur ( often not even then ) . Now if they carry the disease unknowingly , they become unwilling and unsuspecting carriers of the disease spreading it to the general populace .

So what can the general public do to help fight this menace ? Surprisingly it is to merely continue diligently what they have been doing till now . Stay inside whenever possible , wash hands and sanitise whenever free , maintain a respectable distance , and do not gather in crowds . While it sounds scary , it is for all intents and purposes a mere re-hash of the original pandemic . I believe that this time the people are not only well equipped , but also well educated enough about the Covid-19 pandemic that the issue of Omnicron is just an extra page in our lives chapters .

Stay safe and sanitised for the next week !