Evidently the Delta variant is said to have caused second wave of Covid-19 in the country but now there is a growing concern all around about its latest mutation that is Delta Plus or AY.01.
Specialists have said that the Delta Plus variant could dodge vaccine and disease immunity. One of India’s top virologists and previous individual from the INSACOG, Prof Shahid Jameel fears the Delta Plus variant might be equipped for dodging the two immunities from Covid vaccination just as immunity produced by earlier infections.
Prof Jameel clarified that this is on the grounds that Delta Plus has not just the entirety of the attributes of the first Delta variant yet additionally a mutation known as K417N, which was found in the Beta variation in South Africa.
“It’s well-established that the Beta variant of concern evades vaccines much better than the Alpha variant or even the Delta variant,” he said. This is proven by the way that the South African government had returned a consignment of AstraZeneca vaccines, asserting that it was ineffective against the variation there.
He also said that it is still not proven that Delta Plus is more transmissible. “As of now, we have no evidence to suggest that is the case,” he told media.
“We hardly have cases to establish the Delta Plus variant as a variant of concern in the Indian population. In India, 20 cases out of 25,000 sequences are nothing. More sequencing is needed to determine,” said Prof Jameel.
Prof Jameel additionally expressed that there is a reason to accept that Delta Plus is impervious to both counter vaccine immunity and antibody, just as medicines that prevent Covid from advancing, for example, the new monoclonal neutralizer treatment promoted in India by Roche and Cipla, which has shown promising starter results. This is additionally how previous US President Donald Trump was treated when he got infected last year.
He said, “Currently, there is no evidence, but I would go on precedent. There were only a few sequences of the Delta variant as we know it today in December 2020. However, it played a significant role in the second wave, so we must proceed with caution.”
On asked about whether the third wave be more devastating he said, “I don’t think it will happen anymore. I am hopeful that it was and will be communicated, and that INSACOG will take the appropriate steps.”
Prof Jameel was a former member of INSCOG, a government confederation involved in genome sequencing. He was also the chairman of the Scientific Advisory Group associated with the government’s genomics committee, INSACOG, till a few weeks back.
In Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh 6 youths have died due to Covid-19. One of those who died from Delta had received both the doses of the vaccine while the others just got their first.
Maharashtra has reported 21 cases of Delta variant with 2 from Mumbai, 9 in Ratnagiri, 7 in Jalgaon and 1 each in Thane, Sindhudurg and Palghar, told state health minister Rajesh Tope.
