Covid News and Updates

Despite enormous and astounding improvements in vaccine science, the worldwide epidemic of COVID-19 is far from done. Identifying infected patients is a critical problem in controlling the transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Japanese researchers have now devised a novel antibody-based approach for detecting SARS-CoV-2 that does not require a blood sample.

The ineffective identification of SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals has severely limited the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the high rate of asymptomatic infections (16%-38%) has exacerbated this situation. The predominant detection method to date collects samples by swabbing the nose and throat. However, the application of this method is limited by its long detection time (4-6 hours), high cost, and requirement for specialized equipment and medical personnel, particularly in resource-limited countries.

Test Detects Specific Covid Antibodies

An alternative and complementary method for the confirmation of COVID-19 infection involves the detection of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies. Testing strips based on gold nanoparticles are currently in widespread use for point-of-care testing in many countries. They produce sensitive and reliable results within 10-20 minutes, but they require blood samples collected via a finger prick using a lancing device. This is painful and increases the risk of infection or cross-contamination, and the used kit components present a potential biohazard risk.

Lead author Leilei Bao from the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, explains: “To develop a minimally invasive detection assay that would avoid these drawbacks, we explored the idea of sampling and testing the interstitial fluid (ISF), which is located in the epidermis and dermis layers of human skin. Although the antibody levels in the ISF are approximately15%-25% of those in blood, it was still feasible that anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgM/IgG antibodies could be detected and that ISF could act as a direct substitute for blood sampling.”

Also Read: India logs 13,086 fresh Covid cases and 19 deaths in last 24 hours

According to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India recorded 16,103 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, down from 17,092 infections documented on Saturday, and 31 fatalities. 1,11,711 cases are still open, and 5,25,199 people have died nationwide as of this writing.

The health ministry data also reveals that as many as 4,28,65,519 people have been released.

On Saturday, the Indian Ministry of Health revealed statistics on the nation’s overall immunisation rate. The figures show that on July 2, 2022, more than 8 lakh vaccination doses were given.

According to the study, as of July 2, India’s Covid-19 immunisation coverage had reached 197.94 Crore (1,97,94,45,839). Up until 7 o’clock today, more than 8 lakh (8,84,921) vaccination doses had been given. It is anticipated that the daily immunisation count would rise even more. The #HarGharDastak 2.0 initiative saw the government undertake a vaccination push for Puducherry’s eligible schoolchildren on Saturday.

Also Read: COVID-19 Vaccines more effective in People With Higher & Healthy BMIs as compared to Underweight Individuals

On Saturday, another fatality attributed to COVID-19 was recorded in Mohali, bringing the overall death toll to 1,155. In the last two days, there have been two fatalities in this area.

On Saturday, up to 36 positive cases were also recorded, bringing the overall number of cases to 96,924. Three people from the 312 current cases are in hospitals. All patients are admitted to the hospital’s L-2 facilities.

A team of researchers has created a quick Covid-19 test that might be used to quickly detect the many SARS-CoV-2 variants.

The team has already tested CoVarScan on samples from more than 4,000 patients after inventing CoVarScan, a quick Covid-19 test that last year identified the signatures of eight hotspots on the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The researchers claimed that this test can correctly distinguish between all existing SARS-CoV-2 variants and is as accurate as previous techniques for diagnosing Covid.

“Using this test, we can determine very quickly what variants are in the community and if a new variant is emerging,” said researcher Jeffrey SoRelle from the University of Texas Southwestern in the US.

“It also has implications for individual patients when we are dealing with variants that respond differently to treatments,” SoRelle added.

Compared to whole-genome sequencing, CoVarScan had 96 per cent sensitivity and 99 per cent specificity, the researchers said, in a study, published in the journal Clinical Chemistry.

Also Read: Uttar Pradesh: Doctor receives transfer letter after 13 days of death

It recognised and distinguished the Delta, Mu, Lambda, and Omicron variations of Covid-19, as well as the BA.2 Omicron strain, which was once referred to as “stealth Omicron” since it was not detected by several tests meant to solely identify the Omicron strain.

While there are alternative Covid-19 assays available, they often only detect tiny compounds on the surface of the virus or a portion of the SARS-CoV-2 genetic material, making it impossible to distinguish the variation.

Many scientists are also concerned that these tests may not be reliable in detecting particular variations or may fail to catch emerging strains.

Whole-genome sequencing, which is time-consuming and expensive and relies on advanced tools and analysis to spell out the whole RNA sequence contained in the viruses, is often required to identify the form of Covid-19 a patient has.

Early in 2021, SoRelle and his colleagues sought to monitor how effectively existing tests were picking up new SARS-CoV-2 strains. However, they realised that sequencing a large number of samples would not be efficient or quick, so they created their own test.

“A common critique of this kind of test is that it requires constant adjustment for new variants, but CoVarScan has not needed any adjustment in more than a year; it is still performing very well,” said SoRelle.

“In the future, if we did need to adjust it, we could easily add as many as 20 or 30 additional hotspots to the test,” he added.

According to a research that was published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines was equivalent for persons with a higher body mass index (BMI) and of a healthy weight but somewhat lower for underweight people.

At least 14 days after receiving a second dose of vaccine, Oxford University researchers examined the likelihood of developing a serious illness in vaccinated vs unvaccinated individuals.

Despite the fact that the COVID-19 vaccination greatly decreased the number of serious illness cases for everyone, independent of body size, the impact was slightly less pronounced in underweight individuals.

Comparing underweight vaccinated individuals with unvaccinated individuals of the same BMI, hospitalisation or death rates were almost half as likely.

Researchers hypothesise that it may be because those who were underweight also had the lowest vaccination rates. It could also be a sign of a weakened immune system brought on by frailty or other low body weight-related disorders. Exploring the connection between BMI and immunological responses requires more study.

On the other hand, those who had vaccinations and were in the healthy and high BMI categories had a about 70% lower hospitalisation rate than those who did not. Two weeks after receiving a second dose, those with a healthy BMI or a higher BMI had a roughly two-thirds lower mortality rate than those who had not received the vaccine.

“Our findings provide further evidence that COVID-19 vaccines save lives for people of all sizes. Our results provide reassurance to people with obesity that COVID-19 vaccines are equally as effective for them as for people with a lower BMI, and that vaccination substantially reduces their risk of severe illness if they are infected with COVID-19,” said lead author Dr Carmen Piernas of the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, at Oxford.

“These data also highlight the need for targeted efforts to increase vaccine uptake in people with a low BMI, where uptake is currently lower than for people with a higher BMI,” Piernas added.

From December 8, 2020, to November 17, 2021, the study’s team included 9,171,524 patients who were over 18 years old, had BMI information, and had never before experienced SARS-CoV-2 infection. Depending on their BMI, people were categorised.

Also Read: DNA methylation: Study reveals why normal cells may alter to cause cancer

In addition, the researchers discovered that those with low and high BMI had a noticeably greater chance of developing serious illness after receiving two doses of the vaccine than those with a healthy BMI.

In comparison to a healthy BMI of 23, a BMI of 17 was associated with a 50% increase in the chance of hospitalisation, and a very high BMI of 44 was associated with a threefold increase in the risk of hospitalisation.

Although there is no known reason for the elevated risk among obese individuals, it is consistent with the greater occurrence of seasonal flu infections among those with a higher BMI. The group suggested that one possible cause might be an altered immunological response in those who are obese.

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The company is ready to roll out India’s first mRNA vaccine in 72 hours after the government’s permission, said Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd Chief Executive Officer and Whole-time Director Dr Sanjay Singh. “We are ready with the vaccine, hopefully as soon as the NTAGI gives us the permission and the government gives us the way out we are able to roll out within 72 hours,” Dr Sanjay Singh told ANI.

The mRNA vaccine produced by Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd will be sold out under the brand name GEMCOVAC-19.

The company has the capacity to produce 200-300 million doses depending upon the need, Dr Singh said, “At present, we can go to 200-300 million doses, we can produce depending upon the need, but this can be scaled up because this is the advantage of this technology. You don’t need huge manufacturing plants.”

On the pricing of the vaccine, Dr Singh said that the pricing of the vaccine hasn’t been yet decided, but the “company is in conversation with the government but it has to be competitive pricing.”

The indigenous innovative mRNA vaccine can be kept under 2 to 8 degrees Celsius while most other vaccines have to be stored at sub-zero temperatures.

“Due to logistic issues, mRNA vaccines haven’t reached the neediest one. We will try to do this, we are going towards different regions Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia. So, that we can’t only have vaccine supply but also have the joint manufacturing facilities in different regions,” explained Dr Singh when asked about future plans and export of vaccine.

“This vaccine is based on the second wave of the Delta variant,at present phase 3 is going on and we got very good safety and efficacy results. Out of 3000 people, less than 1 per cent of people got infected, but they were not symptomatic. This is the basic data we have against Omicron, it’s since last December and it’s changing,” he replied on being asked whether the vaccine is Omicron specific.

Witnessing the surge in COVID-19 cases and fear being circulated of a new variant, whether, this vaccine can be tweaked if a new variant comes, Dr Singh explained and said that,”mRNA vaccine can be tweaked within 50-60 days which is very fast. So once the new variant comes and if we found that variant is difficult, then we will certainly do it in a few days of time,”

On booster dose he said, “we have given our protocol to the DCGI, if it gets approved as a single dose, we have seen in our trials that single dose is useful on those who are seropositive and they have antibodies against the COVID-19.”