Covishield, Covaxin work against 4 Covid variants

New Delhi: Vaccines Covishield and Covaxin work against SARS-CoV-2 variants Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta, while effectiveness tests against the Delta Plus variant is ongoing, the government said on Friday.

There are four variants of concern of the Coronavirus disease — Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta — with Delta Plus being a sub-lineage of the Delta variant which is also a variant of concern.

Addressing a press conference, ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava said reduction of neutralisation capabilities of vaccine with different variants, which is based on global literature, shows that Covaxin does not change with the Alpha variant at all and so it is same as it is with the standard strain.

"Covishield reduces slightly with Alpha, by 2.5 times. For the Delta variant, Covaxin is effective but antibody response is slightly reduced to three-fold reduction, and for Covishield, it is two-fold reduction, while in Pfizer and Moderna it is seven-fold reduction," he said.

"However, Covishield and Covaxin work against the variants of SARS-CoV-2- Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta — that is well established for these two vaccines," Bhargava said. Talking about the Delta Plus variant, Centre said 51 cases have been detected across 12 states in the country, with Maharashtra reporting the highest number of 22.

It said 22 cases of Delta Plus variant have been found in Maharashtra, followed by nine in Tamil Nadu, seven in Madhya Pradesh, three in Kerala, two each in Punjab and Gujarat, and one case each in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Karnataka.

The Union health ministry has urged eight states and union territories to take up immediate containment measures including preventing crowds, conducting widespread testing as well as increasing vaccine coverage on a priority basis in districts where the Delta Plus variant has been detected.

The measures were suggested by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan in a letter to Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat and Haryana. He also urged them to ensure that adequate samples of people who test positive for COVID-19 are promptly sent to the designated laboratories of Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia (INSACOG) so that clinical epidemiological correlations can be established. The Union government maintained that 90 per cent of the COVID-19 cases in India are being driven by the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant.

Covid variants of concern have been found in 174 districts in 35 states/UTs with the highest number of cases seen in Maharashtra, Delhi, Punjab, Telangana, West Bengal and Gujarat, it said. The proportion of COVID-19 cases with variants of concern rose from 10.31 per cent in May, 2021 to 51 per cent on June 20, 2021, it added.

It added that the second wave of COVID-19 is not yet over in country as 75 districts still have more than 10 per cent prevalence and 92 districts have 5-10 per cent prevalence of Coronavirus.

Meanwhile, if the study paper of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is to be believed, the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic wouldn't be fatal as like the second wave and it would be even smaller than the first wave.

In a new study, ICMR researchers have said that due to mutations in Coronavirus, waning population immunity and unrestricted mixing of people would led to the advent of a third nationwide COVID-19 wave in India, but it is unlikely to be as severe as the second wave.

As per the scientific paper, which is jointly prepared by the ICMR and Imperial College, London, the study conducted by researchers of India and UK has indicated that the timing and pattern of the third wave will depend on waning population immunity and mutations of the virus, while the size of the surge could remain either midway between the first two waves or be smaller than even the first wave.

India recorded a single-day rise of 51,667 COVID-19 infections that took country's case tally to 3,01,34,445. The weekly positivity rate declined to 3 per cent on Friday.

The death toll climbed to 3,93,310 with 1,329 more people succumbing to the viral disease in a day.

The number of active cases has further declined to 6,12,868 and now comprises 2.03 per cent of the total infections. A net decline of 14,189 active cases has been recorded in a day, the data updated at 8 am showed.