Dubbed a “double mutant,” the new variant has raised concerns in India and elsewhere because it is believed to carry two particularly potent and antibody-resistant mutations. One of them could be capable of increasing transmission.
B.1.617 was first spotted in October 2020 near Nagpur, located in the state of Maharashtra, home to the economic capital of Mumbai.
This new Indian variant currently represents 55% of cases of contamination in Maharashtra and more than 10% in the rest of the country, says the director of the Center for Molecular and Cellular Biology, Rakesh Mishra.
According to a study by virology researcher Grace Roberts of Queen’s University Belfast, this variant is estimated to be around 20% more transmissible than the earlier form of the coronavirus that circulated during the first wave.
Besides India, B.1.617 has appeared in several countries including Germany, Italy, the United States, Australia and Canada.
And what worries Indian authorities the most is that the new strain seems to be affecting more young people than previous ones. According to Delhi’s local government chief, Arvind Kejriwal, 65% of the new patients are under 45.
“A big tragedy” will happen if “prompt and meaningful steps” are not taken to resolve the acute shortage of medical oxygen, Mr Kejriewal has warned the central government.
Queues of Covid patients and their worried relatives are growing outside hospitals in the country’s main cities, where nearly a million new cases have been recorded in three days.
As a precaution, several countries have banned flights from India, including Great Britain, which has reported 103 cases of the Indian variant on its territory.
Social distancing in India, a myth?
In recent months, India thought it had achieved some sort of herd immunity, given the average number of infections when you consider the number of inhabitants of the second most populous country in the world. As a result, the country was quick to return to religious festivals and political gatherings that brought together millions of people. Crowding and non-compliance with social distancing are the norm in a country as populous as India.
As a result, the situation is out of control and almost nothing is working to flatten the curve of infections. The country finds itself helpless, with no means of responding to the scale of the situation.
Saturated, hospitals facing a shortage of medical oxygen are sometimes forced to refuse patients due to a lack of intensive care beds or respirators, as is the case in several regions in Delhi and Mumbai where dozens of deaths have been reported due to the lack of oxygen.
Videos posted on social media even show hospitals that are completely overwhelmed and forced to treat two patients per bed.
Vaccination, the pace is still slow
Although the country is a world leader in vaccine production, it has found itself in shortage due to the exponential rise in cases but also due to the patents on vaccines held by the main laboratories and the ban on exporting abroad by the United States of several components necessary for the manufacture of vaccines.
As a result, many vaccination centres have had to close as the country prepares to open vaccination to all adults over 18 from May 1.
“At the rate of two million vaccinations per day, it will take us two and a half years to get 70% of the population vaccinated with two doses,” said Ramanan Laxminarayan, director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy.
India has recently limited vaccine exploration to meet its domestic needs, but the shortfall remains.
The country is struggling to contain the spread of the virus despite a vast vaccination campaign that has administered more than 138 million doses to date.
2024-09-21 17:33:33