The ‘Indian variant’ has been present in Italy for at least a month. The first case was reported in Florence on 10 March. Laboratory tests seem to show that the neutralizing antibodies that are formed following vaccination fail to offer protection against this particular variant.
Boris Johnson canceled his state trip to New Delhi given the explosion of the Covid infection throughout India. The situation in the country is dire. Among the cities most affected by the shortage of beds, in addition to Delhi, there are also Mumbai, Lucknow e Ahmedabad. A new total lockdown has been decided until April 26th.
Only in early March, Indian health minister Harsh Vardhan had declared that the country was “at the end” of the Covid-19 pandemic after a significant drop in the epidemiological curve had occurred earlier this year.
Now the chronicles speak of corpses piled up in the street, collapsing hospitals, oxygen cylinders that are lacking throughout the country. They register over 200 thousand new infections per day, 273,810 only on April 18, and deaths are also increasing: there have been 1,620 in the last 24 hours alone. And by mid-June, more than 2,300 deaths could be counted every day if the situation is not resolved soon, according to a report by The Lancet Covid-19 Commission.
Concern the ‘Indian variant’ indicated with the initials B.1.671 which has become predominant in the country. Around 80 cases have been reported in the UK. The main element of this latest variant is a double mutation that would make it even more contagious. It is unclear whether even more lethal. However, there are concerns about a possible resistance to vaccines produced to date.