Greater COVID-19 spread can lead to more mutations, say doctors

Doctors caution against treating Omicron like the common cold

Justifying the revised shorter home isolation period for mild and asymptomatic COVID-19 cases announced by the Health Ministry recently, doctors note that going by available new data it has been found that the most infectious period is 2-3 days before the first symptom and 2-3 days after.

“This is good enough time to contain the spread, as even in the RT-PCR reports most people become negative by Day 7. However, Omicron should not be treated like the common cold. Greater spread means potentially more mutations,” said Mrinal Sircar, director – Pulmonology and Critical Care, Fortis Hospital Noida.

Doctors say that patients many times demand repeated COVID-19 tests because of the fear that they are not clear of the infection. Says Dr. Kapil Gupta, consultant - Emergency Medicine, HCMCT Manipal Hospital: “The pathology is only for ten days as most of the symptoms subside by then. So, the new guidelines are for seven days of home isolation and the last three days should be without fever. Government has advised against unnecessary testing once you have been cleared of the virus. We faced a problem of people coming for retesting during the first two waves. To use our resources optimally, we need to avoid this.