WHO’s COVID-19 chief Maria Van Kerkhov said the organization is looking at data from India “very, very carefully” and will provide more details in its weekly epidemiological updates on Tuesday.
The World Health Organization has stated that variant B.1.617, which is spreading in India, is showing signs of higher transmission and is currently being viewed as an option of global concern.
Meanwhile, Reuters reports that the coronavirus crisis in India has been largely unabated. Reuters estimates that the country accounts for one in every three COVID deaths worldwide every day. The average number of new cases in seven days is at a record level of 390,995.
Eleven people died late Monday at a government hospital in Tirupati, a city in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, due to a delay in the arrival of an oxygen tanker, The Guardian reported, citing a government official.
“There were problems with oxygen pressure due to low availability. All this happened within five minutes, ”said M. Kharinarayan, the chief official of the region.
Meanwhile, experts warn that for Britain, the Indian variant of COVID may be more transmissible than the dominant Kent strain. Public Health England has reported 790 cases of all three Indian variants in the country, of which type .2 is the most common. Less than half of the cases now involve people who have traveled abroad, which means that the disease is already spreading in the UK itself.
Professor Chris Whitty warned on Monday night that the Indian variant of the coronavirus may be more prevalent than the UK’s currently dominant Kent strain, as concerns about the mutated virus continue to grow.
Public health data in England show that the type of problem known scientifically as B.1.617.2 accounts for up to half of all cases detected in London.
As noted by the Daily Mail, there is no evidence yet that this option will cause more serious illness or make vaccines less effective. But addressing the nation at a Downing Street press conference, England’s chief physician warned that the situation should be monitored if it turned out to be more dangerous.
Professor Whitty said, “What we know about all the options is that something can come from the blue sky – you don’t expect it, and then something happens. The same thing happened with B.1.1.7 (which is commonly referred to as the Kent variant and which is currently prevalent in the UK), and the same thing happened in India with this variant. In our opinion, this is a high transmission option, at least as transferable as option B.1.1.7. It may be even more transmissive, but we have to look. ” The data shows that the Kent variant is about 50 percent more infectious than the original type of coronavirus.
Prof Whitty added: “At this point, in our opinion, the likelihood of avoiding the effects of vaccination is less than with some other options, especially the South African one. But the data is not yet available, so I think we need to be careful until we see clear data that will somehow give us an answer. “
Meanwhile, England has reported zero deaths from COVID for the first time since July, despite growing concerns over the Indian variant. Overall, the outbreak in the UK remains unchanged, with four more deaths and 2,357 cases reported on Monday.
PHE said in a report last week that B.1.617.2 “could have replaced B.1.1.7 to some extent.” Testing data shows that only 50.2% of all positive cases in London were due to the Kent variant at the end of April, up from over 90% in March.
The remaining 49.8% were caused by other strains of the virus. The Indian variant (B.1.617) turned out to be the most widespread. Data showed that it accounted for at least 37.5% of confirmed cases, but the exact proportion is unknown because not all samples were thoroughly analyzed.
Professor Christina Pagel, mathematician at University College London and a member of the Independent SAGE, said the other half is “potentially entirely” Indian. Despite the rapid spread, cases in London remain stable.
The Indian variant has been divided into three types, of which the .2 variant is the most common, but only one in five cases of this in London have been in returning travelers from overseas, indicating that the variant of the coronavirus is spreading within the city.
According to Dr. Deepti Gurdasani, an epidemiologist at Queen Mary University in London, “Cases of this new variant are doubling every week in the UK, while other variants are declining. In general, the number of cases is decreasing, which suggests that even with existing restrictions, this option is growing very, very quickly. In London, 50 percent of the cases no longer belong to the so-called Kent variant. ”
Papers released Monday by the SAGE government expert group also warn of “a significant recent increase in the prevalence of B.1.617.2, including some community transmission.”
In their report, UK government scientific advisers said: “Public Health England is currently prioritizing case detection and localization of this option. The first signs, including from international experience, are that this option may be more transferable than option B.1.1.7 ”.
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