COVID-19: ILS Bhubaneswar Director Asks People To Exercise Caution, Follow Protocols

Bhubaneswar: COVID-19 cases have declined but not gone, people should not be complacent as the virus outbreak is not in the endemic stage yet, said Director, Institute of Life Science (ILS), Ajay Parida on Thursday.

Talking about the new XE variant of coronavirus, he said there is nothing to fear regarding the new variant. The infection rate of this series of virus is not high as there are less clinical symptoms, he added.

The new XE variant is the recombination of Delta and Omicron. There can be different types of mutations and the new variant can only be identified through genome sequencing, he added.

While ILS Bhubaneswar is yet to find any case of the new XE variant in Odisha, he said severity of the variant cannot be determined till the case load doesn’t increase.

However, he cautioned people not to drop their guard and requested everyone to follow COVID appropriate behaviour. The ILS Director said India did not experience any significant effect due to Omicron due to double dose vaccination.

“Eligible persons should take the booster dose as a precaution and continue to follow appropriate COVID behaviour and wear masks, follow handwashing to keep the virus at bay,” he added.