An expert has told a news channel that the spike in the cornavirus cases in India could be linked to the super spreader events and not the mutations of the virus.

Dr V Ravi, Retired Professor of Neurobiology at NIMHAN and Nodal Officer for Genomic Confirmation of SARS-CoV-2, Government of Karnataka, quoted saying that the upsurge in the India coronavirus cases is triggered by super spreader events and then lack of tracking, testing to detect the spread.

“It is not true that we have our own Indian variant that has emerged with the amino acid mutations that have been seen in Maharashtra. These changes have been witnessed in other places as well. We have been doing genomic sequencing at NIMHANS. We have found both the 440 and the 484 mutations isolated in variants that have been circulating ever since the post lockdown period. There is no variant that has a propensity to spread higher than what has been identified in India,” he said.

On the efficacy of the coronavirus vaccines on the new variants of the coronavirus, the report quoted experts as saying that there was absolutely no evidence to suggest that the vaccines will not be effective on the variants.

Amid a spurt in the coronavirus cases in India, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the existing Covid-19 guidelines will remain in force till March 31.

In a statement, the home ministry said while there has been a substantial decline in the active and new coronavirus cases, there is a need to maintain surveillance, containment, and caution so as to fully overcome the pandemic.

The states and union territories have also been advised to speed up the vaccination of the target population so as to break the chain of transmission and overcome the pandemic.

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Addressing the nation, PM Narendra Modi said, “India’s vaccines enjoy much credibility across the world . We’ve earned this via our track record. Most children in the world get their vaccine shots of those made in India. The world’s trust is on our Made in India vaccines will rise soon. These Indian vaccines are cheaper than foreign shots and easy to use. Some foreign doses are close to 5000/dose and to be stored in -70 degrees.”

PM lauded doctors and scientists who worked tirelessly to create the vaccine. He also stressed the importance of taking two doses of covid vaccine.

On the inaugural day, around 3,006 session sites across the country will be virtually connected. Around 100 beneficiaries would be vaccinated at each session.

India has two vaccine candidates so far — Covishield by Serum Institute of India and Covaxin by Bharat Biotech. The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approved the vaccines for emergency use on January 2.

All states and UTs will have multiple session sites or centres at the district level. There will be a registration and waiting room, a vaccination zone and an observation room.

Once the beneficiary reaches the site at the designated time and date, they will produce identification documents. When they are verified, they will be sent to the vaccination room where they will receive the shot. After the shot, the beneficiary will have to wait in the observation room and will be under observation for 30 minutes. There are emergency kits and ambulances on site.

In the first phase, 30 crore health workers, frontline workers and senior citizens will be vaccinated. All the beneficiaries will be registered on the CoWIN app. Only beneficiaries who have registered on the app will be allowed to visit the centre

COWIN APP

The vaccination process will use the online digital platform developed by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare that will help the authorities keep track in real-time of vaccination stocks, storage temperature and track the beneficiaries.

COVID-19 VACCINE HELPLINE

A 24X7 call centre has been established to answer queries about the coronavirus pandemic, vaccine rollout and the CoWIN software.

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The pharma company’s immediate focus is to conduct the Phase 3 trials successfully across sites in the country.

The company’s vaccine candidate, Covaxin, has been developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Virology using inactivated Sars-Cov-2. The virus was isolated in an ICMR lab.

The price of the vaccine is yet to be determined, as the company is still looking at the cost of product development.

Bharat Biotech received approval from the Drugs Controller General of India to conduct Phase 3 clinical trial to establish the efficacy of the vaccine candidate. The company has begun site preparatory exercises for Phase 3, recruitment and dosage will begin in November.

The trial is conducted in nealy 30 sites around 14 states. About 2,000 subjects are enrolled per hospital and will provide tow doses each of the vaccine and placebo recipients.

The pharma company is looking to supply for both government and private markets. It is also in its preliminary discussions with other countries for probable supply.

Nearly Rs 350-400 crore is invested for the development of vaccines and the new manufacturing facilities, which include investments for conducting the Phase 3 clinical trials, in the next three months.

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Now two new studies that investigated the potential role of blood type in predicting the risk, revealed that people with blood group O are less vulnerable to the novel coronavirus infection than any other blood type.

The two studies published in Blood Advances show that people with blood group O are at lower risk of contracting the Covid-19 or SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The study also identifies ABO blood group as a risk factor for SARS CoV-2 infection but not hospitalisation or death from COVID-19.

This means that that person with blood types A, B, or AB may be at a higher risk of getting infected with Covid-19 than people with type O.

However, the researchers didn’t find any significant difference in the rate of infection between A, B, and AB types.

During the course of the study, from February 27, 2020, to July 30, 2020, 841,327 individuals were tested by “real-time polymerase chain reaction” for Covid-19 infection in Denmark. Of these, 473,654 individuals were eligible for the test (7,422 positive and 466,232 negative).

Moreover, a reference group (control group) with relevant blood group information from 2,204,742 non-tested individuals was included.

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The survey of 130 countries provides the first global data showing the problematic impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the access to mental health services and underscores the urgent need for increased funding. It evaluated how the provision of mental, neurological and substance use has changed due to the pandemic, the types of services that have been disrupted, and how countries are adapting to overcome these challenges.

The findings was published ahead of WHO’s ‘Big Event for Mental Health’, scheduled on October 10. The events will bring together world leaders, celebrities and advocates to bring awareness on mental health and the need for mental health investments in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Previously WHO had highlighted the underfunding of mental health and said that the countries were spending less than 2 percent of their national health budgets on mental health. Bereavement, isolation, loss of income and fear are triggering mental health conditions or exacerbating existing ones. Many people may be facing insomnia and anxiety.

Meanwhile, coronavirus itself can lead to neurological and mental complications, such as delirium, agitation, and stroke. People with pre-existing mental, neurological or substance use disorders are also more vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 infection and may stand a higher risk of severe outcomes and even death.

As the pandemic continues, there will be a greater demand on national and international mental health programmes, especially for those countries that have suffered from years of chronic underfunding.

The WHO has issued guidelines to countries on how to maintain essential services – including mental health services – during the coronavirus pandemic and recommends that countries allocate resources to mental health as an fundamental component of their response and recovery plans.

According to studies, those who invest in mental health will have greater advantages. Pre-coronavirus studies reveal that nearly US$1 trillion in economic productivity is lost annually from depression and anxiety alone. Hence every US $1 spend on evidence-based care for depression and return US$5.

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2020 has apparently become a year to demonstrate “Darwinism” or one of the most vital Darwinian theory “The survival of the fittest”,phrased by Herbert Spencer as an alternative to the term “Natural Selection” whether it be in micro(virus) or in macro(human beings).

As a result of the gene sequencing study in Kerala conducted by the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology under Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research with the help of the patients admitted in Kozhikode Medical College, among the sub types of Sars Cov-2 the A2a clad was picked out as the fittest which was the subtype that devastatingly invaded Europe and America.

A specific mutation in its spike gene made it most powerful. This mutation transpired at the 614th amino acid position of the spike protein in which one type of amino acid (aspartic acid – D614) is converted into another one (glycine – G614) and hence the name D614G. D614G, by causing this amino acid alteration, permits the spikes on the surface of the virus to conceive the best possible grip on an enzyme found on the surface of lung cells.

This brings Darwinism in COVID 19 into limelight because exactly like in Darwinian hypothesis this group being terrifically infectious than any other group, could spread proficiently producing more and more copies or replicas.

Although in Darwainian terms fittest meant survival of the form which will leave most copies of itself in successive generations, when it comes to human beings in this era of pandemic, Darwinism has been manifested in another dimension in which fittest is the one who can survive through all the rugged and resilient scrutiny that is transpiring one by one caused by a tiny 60nm organism.

So let us adulterate this Darwinism with optimism, try to become the fittest, prohibit and forbid COVID-19 to manifest the theory of natural selection and succeed in making the people around us and everyone across the globe the fittest, stay indestructible in dusk and dawn and just wait for this violent storm to pass.

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