India’s new Covid-19 variant is proving to be much more difficult to contain, complicating global efforts to stop a year-old pandemic.
MORE than a year into the pandemic and with more variants of the coronavirus disease being discovered across the world, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially classified one mutation as “a variant of concern at the global level.”
On Monday, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s senior scientist for emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, said that there is “available information” that shows the B.1.617 variant in India has an “increased transmissibility.”
Last April, the South Asian country saw a staggering increase in the number of infections to more than 300 thousand daily as the Indian government allowed festivals and political rallies that became super spreader events, paralyzing hospitals and suffocating entire populations.
The situation was so unprecedented that neighboring countries face similar crises and forced much of the world to ban travel to India.
Additionally, the country’s economic performance is already threatened to stall as the crisis continues to push Asia’s third biggest economy into uncertainty.
Experts say such circumstance would send a chilling effect on several major global industries.
Vaccine resistant?
More alarmingly, Kerkhove noted that there are studies which show, “that there is some reduced neutralization” suggesting there is a higher possibility that current vaccines are less effective against the variant. This has yet to be verified.
“As such, we are classifying this as a variant of concern at the global level,” she said.
According to the WHO, a “variant of concern” is classified to be more contagious, harder to control, and can lead to more severe cases.
Moreover, the same United Nations health agency also designated the variants first detected in Britain, South Africa, and Brazil as concerning.
Far from over
Although infection rates are seen decreasing in the continents of Europe and the Americas, the agency said the fight against coronavirus is far from over as other regions like Southeast Asia are seeing a steady increase in figures.
In Nepal, India’s northern neighbor, positivity rate is at 50 percent. Problems continue to ensue as India halted exports of oxygen and important medical equipment which the Himalayan country heavily imports from.
Therefore, authorities still emphasize the need for steadfast measures against the virus since the more it spreads and infects larger populations, the higher the chances are to further mutate, affecting everyone in turn to create favorable conditions.
“We will continue to see variants of concern around the world, and we must do everything that we can to really limit the spread,” Van Kerkhove concluded.
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