As the metropolitan cities reporting a surge in COVID-19 cases sound alarm bells, Dr Gagandeep Kang, eminent microbiologist and professor at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, said the country would witness an increase in the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Spread.”
“It would be a stretch to say so,” Dr Kang told NDTV, but cautioned against dropping the guard because people should be prepared for re-infection, regardless of previous infections, before or after vaccination.
The recent spurt in cases of virus infection in New Delhi and its neighboring states including Haryana and the city of Gururam has raised concerns over the new XE variant of Covid-19 running a fresh Covid wave. The Covid-19 positivity rate in Delhi has increased from 0.5 per cent to 2.7 per cent in a week, with 325 fresh cases on Thursday. While Haryana has recorded over 1,200 fresh Covid cases in 14 days, of which over 1,000 infections were from Gurugram district alone.
Dr Kang said it is not clear whether the surge is due to the XE variant. “We don’t necessarily know that all the cases being reported are of the XE variant until we have sequenced them all,” she said.
Dr. Kang said last week that the new XE variant is not a cause for concern because it is unlikely to be more severe than other subtypes of omicrons (ba.1 and ba.2). “Variants will come because people are traveling. What we know about the variant (XE) is that it is not a cause for concern,” Kang said. “We were concerned about BA.2, but it did not cause more severe disease than BA.1 . XE doesn’t cause much. Severe illness compared to BA.1 or BA.2,” she had said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a warning against XE after it was first detected in the UK. It has been suggested that it may be more transmitted than any COVID strain so far. XE is a combination, or recombinant, of both subtypes (BA.1 and BA.2) of Omicron.
Schools reopening and “best time to get Covid”
Daily Covid-19 cases in Delhi have been rising in the last few days with some cases of school children testing positive in the National Capital Region. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has said that the Delhi government is monitoring the pandemic situation and there is no need to panic as the number of hospitalizations is low. The Delhi Disaster Management Authority will hold a meeting on April 20 to discuss measures to contain the spread of coronavirus in the city. Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that all hospitals in Delhi have been advised to remain vigilant in view of the increase in the number of coronavirus cases in the city.
Amid concerns over cases of Covid-19 infection among school children, Dr Kang said that parents should not worry as childhood is the “best” time for healthy children to have a Covid infection. “I think if you get a COVID infection the best time to get it is when you’re a healthy baby,” she said. The top virologist said that serosurvey indicates that 80 per cent of children have already been infected and protection from infection should not be expected. “As the virus evolves, it will continue to evolve in ways that allow it to infect us over and over again,” she said.
However, Dr Kang said that instead of focusing on the number of cases of mild infection, parents should focus on the figures for children who will need hospitalization, adding that the number of severe cases is very high. is less.
Meanwhile, India opened up vaccination to the 15-18 year age group on 3 January. The cumulative dose of vaccine administered in the country has exceeded 186.30 crores. The country on Sunday began giving a precautionary dose of vaccines to all beneficiaries over the age of 18 at private immunization centres.
XE Cases in India
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has said that it has detected the first case of XE infection in Mumbai. However, the Union Health Ministry said that the sample, which is being termed as the ‘XE’ variant, was analyzed in detail by the genome experts of the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG), who have estimated that the genomic constitution This variant is not related to the genomic constitution of the XE type.
Gujarat reported its first case of the XE variant after a person from Mumbai tested positive for COVID-19 during his visit to Vadodara. Genomic analysis of the XE variant sample from Gujarat is still underway and results are expected soon, a Union Health Ministry official said on Saturday.
(with inputs from PTI)
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