It has prepared oxygen facilities and other medical infrastructure ahead of any possible third wave.
New Delhi: The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) met last week where they discussed matters related to the spreading Delta Plus variant of the novel coronavirus. The meeting discussed imposing inter-state travel restrictions after a number of states began reporting cases of the Delta Plus variant.
The meeting had both government officials as well as medical experts such as Lt Governor of Delhi Anil Baijal, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria, among others. At the meeting, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) told the DDMA that a possible third wave of Covid-19 “remains uncertain” and an exact time period cannot be calculated as yet.
The Delhi government is acting “on a war footing” against the pandemic”, and to prevent a third wave, it has prepared oxygen facilities and other medical infrastructure, said a source from the Delhi government when asked about the preparedness of the state for a possible third wave. There are also talks about travel restrictions on entering the capital to ensure that the new Delta Plus variant, which has been rapidly spreading across the subcontinent, does not spread in the city. The states that have reported cases of the Delta and Delta Plus variants are Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha, and Haryana.
Other countries in which the Delta plus variant has also been reported are the US, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Switzerland, Japan, Poland, Nepal, Russia, and China.
“The so-called Delta plus variant exhibits an additional mutation in the Delta variant and since this is a new variant, scientific knowledge is still in the early stage,” said Dr V.K. Paul, Chief of the Covid-19 Task Force in India. “Whether this additional mutation in the Delta variant is associated with increased transmissibility or excess severity of disease, or any adverse effect on vaccine efficacy is currently not established and we should wait for this information to emerge. And we should wait for these aspects to be studied systematically.”
The Delta variant spread 50% faster than the Alpha variant, which was 50% more contagious than the original strain of SARS-CoV-2 according to epidemiologists. The first confirmed case of the Delta variant was identified in India in December 2020. The strain spread rapidly, becoming the primary strain of the virus in both India and the United Kingdom.
Toward the end of June, the Delta variant was responsible for more than 20% of cases in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As of late July, the Delta variant is the cause of more than 80% of fresh Covid-19 cases in the United States. The World Health Organization (WHO) has dubbed this variant “the fastest and fittest.”
The WHO has classified Covid-19 variants in two categories: Variants of Concern (VOC), and Variants of Interest (VOI). “Variants of Concern” are defined as variants that are more virulent, may present different symptoms, and decrease the effectiveness of public safety protocols such as social distancing and vaccinations. Apart from the Delta variant, the “Variants of Concern” include other commonly spread strains over the past year, such as the Alpha variant (first documented in the UK in September 2020), the Beta variant (documented in South Africa in May 2020), and the Gamma variant (documented in Brazil in November 2020). “Variants of Interest”, such as the Eta, Iota, Kappa, and Lambda variants, are genetically different from the original SARS-CoV-2 strain but are, as of now, not as virulent or widespread as “Variants of Concern”.