LAHORE: Fearing outbreak of the new sub-variant of the Omicron, the health authorities have proposed another booster dose for the protection against the virus as most of the people lack immunity in winter.

They fear that a large part of the Punjab’s population received booster dose some five months back, making most of the people vulnerable to the new virus called “BQ-1”, a sub-variant of the Omicron.

There are multiple global reports/studies that the Omicron has been more transmissible as compared to other variants.

The decisions were made in a meeting called by the directorate of health services Punjab here on Monday.

The meeting decided to give a major role to the Communicable Disease Control (CDC) Punjab to combat the new 7th wave of the virus.

Communicable disease control programme to get key role to combat Covid seventh wave

The public health experts and the officers from the DG Health office, Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), the World Health Organisation and other relevant departments attended the session.

An official said the WHO representative apprised the meeting that there is a potential risk of resurgence of 7th wave of the Covid-19 in Punjab following the reports that China has witnessed hundreds of thousands of new cases.

He called new sub-variant of Omicron as BQ-1, having high transmissibility, saying it has taken an ugly shape in China due to the high number of new positive cases over the last few weeks.

The official said the participants agreed that the new sub-variant of the Omicron required immediate measures by reactivating the entire previous arrangements in order to stop its transmission in Punjab.

The meeting was told that the previous teams of the health experts which had played a decisive role to fight against the earlier Covid waves in the province have been dispersed.

All the health experts of the above-mentioned teams either have been transferred to other sections or sidelined.

It was decided in the meeting that immediate steps must be taken to re-call their services for an effective response to the new emerging threat of the virus.

The meeting proposed that this time the CDC of the directorate of health services should be given a leading role to combat the new wave of the Omicron’s sub-variant, the official source said adding that the new guidelines for the public must be prepared without any further delay.

It has also been recommended that an emergent meeting of the technical working group must be called today (on Tuesday) in order to prepare a new strategy for the 7th expected wave of the virus in Punjab.

In the proposed meeting, the authorities should initiate steps to enhance surveillance and sequencing of cases, genome sequences, field investigations, laboratory assessments to understand the new sub-variant of the Omicron etc.

Published in Dawn, january 3th, 2023