A Chinese general remarked a while ago ‘If you know the enemy and know yourself. Then you need not fear the results of a hundred battles’. We know ourselves well enough after a year of the pandemic. We are not particularly good at doing the right thing. And nowhere is that clearer than with the variant sweeping India right now.
What Do We Know About The Variant Sweeping India?
We don’t for sure the extent to which the new variant is behind the India surge. However, scientists are confident it has key mutations to its outer spike portion. This is the part of virus that docks onto healthy human cells, and infects them with the COVID-19 disease that is spreading rapidly in India.
The official name of the variant sweeping India is B.1.617. This gives it a unique identity, and helps health scientists track the sequence of its origin and development. In this particular instance, the World Health Organization confirms B.1.617 first surfaced in India last December. However, it has since become evident in at least another sixteen countries.
How Serious Is The Variant Sweeping India Compared to Others?
Reuters confirms World Health Organization considers it a ‘variant of interest’. That’s because it could have further mutations making it more infectious, more likely to cause deaths, and even able to potentially overcome some vaccines. To put this in context, the variants that surfaced in United Kingdom, Brazil and South Africa are also ‘of interest’.
Some epidemiologists believe only an ‘escape virus’ able to overcome prior immunity could cause the sheer magnitude of infections in India. However, the simultaneous presence in India of variant B.117, that first surfaced in United Kingdom muddies the waters.
What we do know is massive, unprotected political rallies and religious festivals took place in India recently. Humans are not particularly good at doing the right thing. Perhaps we should try harder to keep going with our personal precautions, despite the fatigue creeping over.
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India’s COVID-19 Surge – What Went Wrong?
Preview Image: India Daily COVID-19 Deaths
