New strains spreading faster but not as lethal

EVEN as India records the highest surge in Covid cases, the country's virologists and medical experts say new strains of the coronavirus are not as dangerous as perceived.

“Though new strains of the virus are spreading faster, causing breathlessness in more numbers, its fatality rate is not so dangerous if compared to the previous ones,” said Amulya Panda, the director of the National Institute of Immunology (NII), India’s premier institute for developing vaccines.

Panda, who led a team of scientists in developing a new protein-based vaccine for Covid-19, said the initial findings suggested that various new strains could be dangerous but not more dangerous than the earlier ones.

Explaining the behaviour pattern of the new strains, Panda said: “The fundamental quality of this virus is that it keeps on mutating. For instance, just see the HIV virus. It has been decades now but we have not been able to develop a vaccine against HIV.

“(The) reason is that the HIV mutates on a daily basis. Similarly, the flu virus also mutates, but on a yearly basis, which is a reason why we have a new flu vaccine every year.”

On the efficacy of vaccines used against Covid-19, he said: “All vaccines will be effective to much extent, even if we see new strains. Let me assure you, the vaccine is working and it will continue to work. I feel that due to the mass vaccination of people in the country, the number of critical cases is much less, if one considers the present spread of the virus.”

On triple mutants of Covid-19 traced in various states in India, Sandeep Sharma, a radiologist, said more data was needed to find out how potent the new variant was.

“There are reports that this variant is more infectious than other variants detected. But there has to be solid data to establish this fact. I can only say that, as per CT scans of the chest of more than a hundred Covid-19 positive patients seen by me in Delhi recently, the condition of several of them looked serious, but not untreatable. I believe that presently the chaos is more because of the initial mismanagement in containing the second wave. The numbers swelled because most of us became complacent.”

Professor Pratyush Shukla, a microbiologist, said that though it was too early to assess, the new strain was different and difficult to deal with.

“What gives hope is that the vaccination (of senior citizens) has managed the situation to some extent, it’s definitely a successful endeavour.

“I feel that the second wave could have been handled in a much better way,” said Shukla, the former general secretary of the Association of Microbiologists in India.

“The bottom line is that all our efforts for prevention have to be made, meaning strict compliance of Covid protocols, primarily wearing masks.” |