India's COVID-19 variant: What we know so far

    07-May-2021
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Veronica Hackethal, MD
Contd from previous issue
In contrast, a "variant of concern" is defined as one that has been associated with or has demonstrated increased transmissibility, increased virulence, a change in clinical disease, or decreased effectiveness of efforts to control or treat the illness.
Why Is the 'India' Variant Important?
B.1.617 has been spreading quickly in India. It is now the dominant strain in the state of Maharashtra in southwestern India. Maharashtra is India's second most populous state and home of India's financial center at Mumbai.
Back in December 2020, 271 million people (about one-fifth of India's population) were already infected with COVID-19. Modelling studies suggested that India may have already reached herd immunity through natural infection. India's health minister announced that the country had successfully contained the spread of the virus.
Three months later, India is battling its biggest COVID-19 surge yet. Infections are at the highest daily average reported, with over 340,000 new infections reported daily, and experts believe the actual number of infections and deaths may be under-estimated.
Could the new variant be to blame for the current surge? Or is it a confluence of factors related to people letting their guard down -- a lack of masking, large gatherings of people mixing and travelling together, and people somehow thinking that India was already immune?
No one really knows, but a similar situation has already occurred elsewhere in the world.
"We saw the same story in Brazil. The city of [Manaus] had over 70% of people 'naturally' infected. But, once P.1. hit, they had a major surge," Jetelina wrote. "Populations that have high 'natural' immunity are getting re-infected. It doesn't look like natural infection will protect us for long. Get your vaccine."

Courtesy MedPage Today