IGIB chief concerned about wave in rural India

The second wave of the pandemic has just moved out of the big cities, but the intensified spread of Covid-19 in rural India is a bigger concern now than a possible third wave, says Anurag Agrawal, director of the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB). However, India is in a better position than most countries when it comes to protection from the prevalent Delta variant of the virus and its sublineages including Delta Plus, he tells Teena Thacker in an interview. Edited excerpts:Where do we stand on dealing with the Delta variant with our vaccine coverage low as compared to other countries?For protection from Delta and Delta sublineages, we are in a better position than most countries because a large part of our population has recently recovered from Delta infection and vaccination is picking up. The countries with very high vaccination coverage with mRNA vaccines, such as Israel, are the most protected. No one has complete protection.Are we going to see more of Covid-19 waves?Pandemics do occur in waves. This will probably end in endemicity with intermittent clusters of outbreaks, mostly affecting unvaccinated people and those with severe comorbidities or immunity problems.Is genome sequencing sufficient in our country or do we need to increase it?Genome sequencing in India is not a static number. It is increasing every month and I expect that our surveillance level will be adequate for public health needs.Of the samples sequenced, what has been the ratio of Delta and Delta Plus? Can you give a break-up of all the variants seen in India?Delta Plus currently is too small a fraction of total samples to even be a meaningful fraction. What is more important is that in the very few districts where the percentage is higher, it has been stable over the last few weeks. This is a good initial sign but we will remain watchful. There are too many variants to be listed. Alpha is disappearing after rising in the first quarter of the year, Beta never really rose and is practically gone for now. Gamma never really entered the community. Delta is the main lineage now.Is it true that we are seeing more of the Delta Plus variant where the number of cases is on an upsurge?Currently, there is no link between Delta Plus and the upsurge.Why is the second wave of Covid-19 virus not ending?The second wave won’t just end on its own. As long as there are people to infect and opportunities to do so, Delta will spread. It has just moved out of the big cities. I remain highly concerned. It is a variant of serious concern as we have seen. India is a big country and it looks like people think Delta has gone away. It hasn’t. I am far more worried about the continued or intensified second wave in rural India than I am about the third wave in cities that get everyone’s attention.Are the symptoms for cases different for Delta and Delta Plus?No.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/3vPVKG9