Covid-19 Wrap-up: Concerns over Delta Plus variant keep health officials on their toes

Even as India is witnessing a sharp decline in new Covid-19 cases and deaths with the ebbing of the second wave, concerns around a new 'highly transmissible' Delta Plus variant of SARS-CoV-2 have put health department officials on alert.

Currently, India has 40 cases of the Delta Plus coronavirus variant reported from Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Terming the Delta Plus variant of coronavirus as a 'variant of concern', Union Health Ministry on Tuesday asked Maharashtra, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh to implement the public health measures in a more focussed and effective way in the districts reporting Delta Plus cases. The Chief Secretaries have been advised to take up immediate containment measures including preventing crowds and intermingling of people, widespread testing, prompt tracing as well as vaccine coverage on a priority basis in the districts and clusters with Delta Plus cases.

The rising cases of the Delta Plus variant of coronavirus have also set many states worrying about their efforts to contain the ongoing pandemic. Karnataka has expressed concerns about the possible proliferation of this new variant from neighbouring Maharashtra or Tamil Nadu as 22 of its districts have seen an easing of restrictions as part of Unlock 2.0. "Short of halting all interstate movement, there is really no way to stop more cases of Delta Plus from popping up in Karnataka," said an expert who did not want to be named.

While most of the older Delta Plus cases found in India and around the world are of the AY.1 variety, scientific reports indicate that the mutant virus is further mutating into an even more dangerous form called AY.2. According to scientists and various genomic databases, Karnataka’s sole Delta Plus case is actually an AY.2 variant, which has two additional mutations than the baseline Delta Plus.

This not only includes the K417N mutation in the spike protein which scientists have found to be resistant to the monoclonal antibody treatment, but also another mutation which was widely recorded in Europe last year. Known as A222V, this mutation was present in the 20A.EU1 variant, which dominated Europe last autumn.

Meanwhile, the super-contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus is responsible for about one in five Covid-19 cases in the United States, and its prevalence has doubled in the last two weeks. US infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci said the Delta variant of the novel coronavirus that was first found in India is the greatest threat to the United States' effort to eradicate Covid-19 in its borders. "The transmissibility is unquestionably greater" in the Delta variant than the original variant of Covid-19, Fauci said, adding that "it is associated with an increased disease severity."

On the vaccination front, the country achieved the feat of administering a record 88.09 lakh doses on Monday. On Tuesday, however, the country administered around 53 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccines – nearly 40 per cent drop from Monday’s record-breaking 88 lakh inoculations – with experts pointing out that sustaining such a high level of vaccination would depend on supplies, states' collaboration, and public enthusiasm.

Since the start of the nation's Covid-19 vaccination drive in January, about five per cent of India’s target population has been fully vaccinated. While hurdles are aplenty, the state governments have been taking steps to ensure people get vaccinated. In a bid to achieve the target of 100 per cent vaccination against Covid-19, the Ujjain district administration in Madhya Pradesh has issued an order saying government employees will not get their salaries from next month if they are not inoculated. District Collector Ashish Singh issued an order to this effect on Tuesday. The order said salaries of government employees will not be disbursed if they fail to get vaccinated till July 31. Even IndiGo airline is offering 10 per cent discount from Wednesday onwards to all passengers who have taken at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. The discount would be given on base fare and only "limited inventory" is available under this offer, the airline's statement noted.

In the US, Morgan Stanley's staff and clients will not be allowed to enter the bank's New York offices if they are not fully vaccinated. Employees, clients, and visitors will be required to attest to being fully vaccinated in order to access the bank's offices in New York and Westchester.

India's total tally of Covid-19 cases crossed the three crore mark with one crore infections being added in 50 days. The total tally mounted to 3,00,28,709 with 50,848 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, while the death toll climbed to 3,90,660 with 1,358 fresh fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

India's total Covid-19 infections had surpassed the one crore mark on December 19 after which it took around 136 days to cross the two crore mark on May 4.

On the vaccine front, Bharat Biotech is likely to attend a pre-submission meet for Emergency Use Listing of Covaxin by the World Health Organization on Wednesday. The country has decided not to resume exports of coronavirus doses until its domestic needs are met. “Once our immediate need of vaccinating a significant proportion of Indian people is achieved and vaccine stockpiles are visible from multiple sources, we would then like to play the role of serving others and providing vaccines to them,” Dr. Vinod K. Paul said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Meanwhile, Moody's Investors Service on Wednesday slashed India's growth projection to 9.6 per cent for 2021 calendar year, from its earlier estimate of 13.9 per cent, and said faster vaccination progress will be paramount in restricting economic losses to the June quarter.

Former finance minister and Rajya Sabha member P Chidambaram in an interview with DH's Annapurna Singh said that the Modi government must revive demand in the economy through a generous fiscal stimulus and support low-income and poor families through cash transfers. He also listed four steps the government could take to mitigate the suffering of the poor and the lower middle-classes.