'Omicron is not common cold': Centre counters top epidemiologist

"Omicron is not a common cold. We are seeing this misconception spreading; it's our responsibility to slow it down. Let's mask up and get vaccinated, whoever is due," said Dr Paul, who heads the Covid Task Force.

"It's a fact that vaccines are helpful to an extent. Vaccination is a critical pillar of our Covid response," he added while briefing reporters.

This comes after the 'highly transmissible' Omicron variant has been referred to as  "almost unstoppable" and that everyone will eventually be infected with it, medical experts have suggested.

However, experts also suggested that Covid is not a frightening disease anymore as the new strain is milder and is leading to much less hospitalisation.

"A majority of us will not know we have been infected, probably more than 80% will not even know when we have it," Dr Jayaprakash Muliyil, epidemiologist and chairperson, Scientific Advisory Committee at ICMR's National Institute of Epidemiology told NDTV channel.

Noting that no medical bodies suggested booster doses, Muliyil said they won't stop the natural progression of the epidemic

"We have not suggested booster dose so far from any of the bodies of the government. To my knowledge, the precautionary dose was just suggested, because there are reports that certain people, mostly in the age group above 60, did not respond to two doses," he said.

India is seeing a surge in Covid cases across the country with Kolkata's positivity rate being a whopping 60 percent. Closely following Kolkata, Mumbai's positivity rate is at 27 percent and Delhi and Chennai are at 23 percent.

"Clearly, the Omicron variant is dominating right now," Dr Paul said as he urged people to take Omicron seriously.

He also warned that the variant could badly hit health care systems.