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Covid News and Updates

COVID-22, a new coronavirus type said to be deadlier than Delta, is being warned about by experts

by Pragati Singh
written by Pragati Singh

As India prepares for the third wave of the novel coronavirus, experts are warning of a ‘Super Variant’ of the SARS CoV-2, which might arise in 2022 and be known as COVID-22, as well as the possibility of uninfected people becoming super spreaders.

An immunologist in Zurich, Professor Sai Reddy said that the current strain mix could result in a new and more dangerous epidemic, as per a report by The Sun. Reddy pointed out that COVID-22 was “inevitable” as the coronavirus is very likely to combine to make a deadlier strain especially with Delta, Beta, and Gamma variants.

“COVID-19 could be worse than what we are seeing now,” he cautioned. As a result, more than one vaccination will be needed in the furtute as the fight against coronavirus continues. He warned that vaccination and booster shots will be needed ‘maybe for the rest of our lives.’

He cautioned that the world cannot solely rely on vaccination. “COVID-22 could get worse than what we are witnessing now… We have to be prepared for more than one vaccination in the next few years, which is constantly adapting to new variants,” he was quoted as saying by The Sun.

He insisted that the world has to be prepared as the COVID-22 variant has potential to be a big risk. “If such a variant appears, we have to recognize it as early as possible and the vaccine manufacturers have to adapt the vaccine quickly. The emergence of this new variant is a big risk,” Reddy claimed.

 

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COVID-19
Covid News and UpdatesNational & International News

We should be prepared for the new wave, says Centre

by Vaishali Sharma
written by Vaishali Sharma

As India grapples with the second wave of Covid-19, the government on Wednesday warned that a third wave is “inevitable”.

During a press briefing, the principal scientific advisor to the Centre, K Vijay Raghavan said, “Phase three is inevitable given the higher levels of circulating virus, but it is not clear on what time-scale this phase three will occur. We should be prepared for new wave.”

Raghavan further pointed out that vaccines are effective against the current variants. “New variants will arise all over the world, as well as India, but variants that increase transmission will likely plateau,” he said, adding that immune-evasive variants and those which lower or increase disease severity will arise going ahead.

“Scientists in India and all over the world are working to anticipate these kinds of variants and act against them rapidly by issuing early warnings and developing modified tools,” he said.

On being asked if a nationwide lockdown was the only solution to rise in cases, NITI Aayog member Dr V K Paul said there was already a guideline issued to states to impose restrictions to suppress the chain of transmission. He added that more options will be discussed in case of a necessity.

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coronavirus variants
Case Studies

New virus may be driving India’s Covid surge

by Vaishali Sharma
written by Vaishali Sharma

India crossed 100,000 new daily infections on Sunday, and its wealthiest state Maharashtra has emerged as the epicenter. It halted all non-essential services, ordered private companies to work from home, and shut malls and restaurants through April.

Other states have also imposed restrictions though none as severe. After new variants from the UK were discovered in several inbound passengers, India set up a consortium of 10 state-run laboratories to sequence positive tests samples in December. However, between January and March the country has only studied 11,064 of its samples, the ministry of health said at a briefing on March 30, which is less than 0.6% over that period.

India doesn’t have enough data on the new variants to explain the steep, nine-fold jump in infections from around 11,000 daily new cases in early February, said Bhramar Mukherjee, a professor at the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan. “We are essentially reverse engineering to explain the features of the virus curve as we do not have credible data on variants of concern and genomic surveillance,” Mukherjee said. “The more you let the infection spread the more chances of the virus mutating.”

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COVID-19
Case Studies

Study: Virus found commonly in India more transmissible than the UK variant

by Vaishali Sharma
written by Vaishali Sharma

Pune: According to a study conducted by the scientists at the National Institute of Virology, the UK variant (B.1.1.7) of the coronavirus did not appear to be more transmissible than the variant of the virus most common in India.

The UK variant has mutations that enable it to spread more easily among people and was linked to a sharp spike in cases in the United Kingdom last December.

India has registered 771 cases of the three ‘variants of concern’ reported internationally. Of these 736 have been reported from B.1.1.7.

To establish how quickly the strain spread, NIV scientists infected two groups of nine hamsters, with one group give the B.1.1.7 and the other the dominant SARS-CoV-2 strain in India. The latter is characterised by a mutation called D614G that, early last year, made it the dominant strain globally.

“The study demonstrated comparable transmission efficiency of both UK and D614G variants of SARS-CoV-2 in Syrian hamsters,” the more recent study said.

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Covid News and UpdatesNational & International News

France: New variant escapes PCR detection

by Vaishali Sharma
written by Vaishali Sharma
sarscov2covi

French authorities have announced the emergence of a new variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the northwestern region of Brittany that has escaped detection by standard polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus is the agent responsible for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that continues to ravage the globe and has now caused more than 2.67 million deaths.

An in-depth investigation is now underway in Brittany after genomic sequencing identified eight carriers of the variant among a cluster of 79 cases in the town of Lannion in the Côtes d’Armor on the 13th of March.

On Monday, the health ministry said in a statement that initial analyses of the variant do not suggest that this new strain is more transmissible or causes more severe disease than previous viral strains.

However, in a press conference on Tuesday, health officials said the failure of PCR tests to detect the virus is raising concerns.

Belgian virologist and interfederal COVID-19 spokesperson Steven Van Gucht clarified that about eight individuals presented with typical coronavirus symptoms, “but the tests remained negative.”

The announcement comes as France sees a resurgence in SARS-CoV-2 cases, with President Emmanuel Macron warning that new lockdown measures could be implemented in the days to come.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has categorized the new strain as a “variant under investigation” (VUI) rather than a “variant of concern” (VOC) like the strains that were recently identified in Brazil, the UK and South Africa.

The VUI category includes thousands of naturally occurring variants, of which only a small fraction are likely to pose any risk to public health.

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Covid News and Updates

Study reveals Covid-19 vaccines, antibodies less effective against new variants

by Vaishali Sharma
written by Vaishali Sharma
mental health

According to a study published in the journal Nature Medicine, the present Covid-19 antibodies and vaccines developed so far have been may be less effective against the new variants of UK, Brazil and South Africa, as these can evade the antibodies that work against the original virus.

The researchers said there is a wide variation in how much antibody a person produces in response to vaccination or natural infection. According to the scientists, including those from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in the US, more of antibodies produced in response to vaccination or natural infection, or purifies antibodies intended for use as drugs, is needed to neutralize these varieties, compared to the levels needed to counter the original virus lineage from Wuhan, China.

Michael S. Diamond, a senior author from the Washington University School of Medicine said, “We’re concerned that people whom we’d expect to have a protective level of have a protective level of antibodies because they have had Covid-19 or been vaccinated against it, might not be protected against the new variants. Some people produce very high levels, and they would still likely be protected against the new worrisome variants. But some people, especially older and immunocompromised people, may not take such high levels of antibodies.”

According to the researchers, people infected with coronavirus generate the most protective antibodies against the virus spike protein which enable it to enter host cells.

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