The third wave of the COVID-19 is largely speculated to hit the children and since the vaccination hasn’t started on full scale, making the younger ones extremely vulnerable. However, newly conducted studies and research now state that even though if children get infected with the virus, they are most likely to recover within a week and the percentage of those who suffer from ‘long covid’ is comparatively lower.

According to a study in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, less than 1 in 20 children with COVID-19 have symptoms lasting longer than 4 weeks, and by 8 weeks, almost all have recovered.

The peer-reviewed study, published in the Lancet Child and Adolescent Health journal, wanted to understand how Covid affected children and how it compared to other respiratory diseases.

It used data provided by parents or carers to the UK Zoe Covid Study app.

The study looked at 1,734 children, aged between 5-17, who were reported to have developed symptoms and tested positive for Covid between September 2020 and February 2021.

The researchers say it is very difficult to know how many children were infected during this time period as the four UK nation record data differently, but they estimate more than 400,000 children and young people tested positive.

 Fewer than one in 20 (4%) were found to have experienced symptoms for four weeks or more, with one in 50 (2%) having symptoms for more than eight weeks.

The most common symptoms reported were headaches and tiredness. Others included a sore throat and loss of smell.

On average, older children were typically ill for slightly longer than primary school children, with those aged between 12 and 17 taking a week to recover while for younger children the illness lasted five days.

Senior author Emma Duncan, PhD, in King’s College London, said in a press release, “We know from other studies that many children who catch coronavirus don’t show any symptoms at all; and it will be reassuring for families to know that those children who do fall ill with COVID-19 are unlikely to suffer prolonged effects.”

She added, “However, our research confirms that a small number do have a long illness duration with COVID-19, though these children too usually recover with time.”

Most of the kids recovered within a month, around 4.4 per cent (77) of them experienced symptoms even after a month. The most common symptom that remained after four weeks was fatigue.

Out of the 77, 64 children reported suffering from fatigue at some point in their illness. Loss of smell and headache were also common. Headache was common during the starting of the infection, while loss of smell occurred later and persisted for a longer period.

Older children were typically ill for longer than primary school-aged children.

The team also assessed the children who tested negative for COVID-19 but may have other illnesses such as cold and flu. It was found that children with COVID-19 were ill for longer as compared to children with other illnesses who tested negative for the virus.

The data highlights that illnesses like cold and flu can also have prolonged symptoms in children and thus it’s important to be careful.

With a spike in the number of cases again, it comes down to a root cause i.e., the problem is the rise in concern about the coronavirus is driven pretty much exclusively by the unvaccinated.

In July, 44% of vaccinated adults indicated they were extremely or very concerned about the virus. This was up from 36% in late June. Among the unvaccinated, concern was stable at 23%. The opposite, in theory, should be the case. The unvaccinated should be the most scared.

Which could also be stated as the lack of fear about the virus is probably part of the reason that the unvaccinated haven’t gotten a shot. It would also explain why it’s difficult to reach much of the unvaccinated through messages about how dangerous the virus is.

Claims raising doubts about the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines began circulating on social media ever since the onset of the vaccination drive world-wide. For instance, a meme published on Instagram in late July 2021 claimed that both vaccinated and unvaccinated people were at risk of getting infected by SARS-CoV-2, transmitting the disease or dying from it and that vaccinated people were additionally exposed to the risk of dying from the vaccine.

By only listing detrimental outcomes without explaining how likely these outcomes are for either group, this misleading post tricked the reader into believing that both the vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals are equally at risk. Overall, the message is that remaining unvaccinated is safer than getting vaccinated.

However, on the contrary to what this claim suggests, vaccines don’t need to have a 100% efficiency to be effective at fighting the pandemic.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collected the data from 37 clinical trials and real-world monitoring of vaccination campaigns. All these studies found significant effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection, symptomatic COVID-19, and death, ranging from 64% to 99%. In fact, the majority of those studies reported an effectiveness of above 90%. Effectiveness is determined by comparing the number of COVID-19 cases, hospitalization, or deaths in vaccinated and unvaccinated groups. Thus, a 90% effectiveness indicates that vaccination reduces by 90% the number of people getting infected, sick, or dying from the disease.

Even in the rare event where vaccinated people get infected, results indicate that they are much less contagious than unvaccinated individuals in general. Part of the reason why vaccinated people are less susceptible to severe forms of COVID-19 and less likely to infect others is that the COVID-19 vaccines significantly reduce the viral load among the few individuals who would get infected.

Thus, summarizing the above, as per the claims, casting doubt over the usefulness of COVID-19 vaccines are misleading when they fail to inform the audience that vaccinated people are much less likely to get sick than unvaccinated individuals. Epidemiological studies indicate that vaccination significantly reduces the odds of getting infected, developing a severe form of the disease, and dying from COVID-19.

There is no vaccine that is 100% effective therefore, it is normal to observe some breakthrough infections among vaccinated people. But these are rare compared to cases in unvaccinated people. Furthermore, even in breakthrough infections, the viral load tends to be lower than in unvaccinated patients, thus limiting the risks of transmission and hospitalization.

In the past 24 hours, India recorded 29,689 new cases of the novel coronavirus along with 415 deaths, the daily caseload is less than 30,000 after 132 days. Kerala and Maharashtra reported 11,586 new cases and 4,877 infections respectively. According to health ministry sources, Kerala is not focusing enough on containment and thus reporting 50 per cent of new Covid-19 cases. Maharashtra is also reported the same 50 per cent of fresh cases. The Covid-19 fatalities are low in these states because of their good health infrastructure and are focused more on mitigation process of treating cases than containment.

The active cases, currently at 3,98,100, dropped below 4 lakh for the first time since March 24. As of Monday, there were 3.98 lakh active cases in the country, of which 1.37 lakh infections are from Kerala.

On the otherhand, the country might miss its vaccination target of 13.5 crore doses for July if it continues to vaccinate at the current pace. Till Sunday, 9.94 crore doses of vaccines had been administered this month, at an average of about 38.26 lakh doses per day. The total number of vaccine doses administered so far has reached 44.19 crore under the nationwide vaccination drive.

More than 2.28 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses are still available with states, Union Territories and private hospitals for inoculation, the Union health ministry said on Tuesday.

Addressing this concern, Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health Ministry said, “There has been a consistent decline in the weekly average in the Covid-19 cases. But if we compare the rate of decline in cases, from earlier to now, its decrease remains the area of concern. We are in talks with states in this regard.”

The country’s capital has almost completely unlocked the capital following the Covid-19 guidelines and restrictions of course with terms and conditions. Only schools, colleges, coaching institutes and religious and social gatherings remain curtailed.

However, the threat of a possible third wave is still lurking. In view of this, the Delhi government is making preparations to handle the same. Taking lessons from the devastating second wave the Delhi government is focused on ensuring supply of those medical facilities that were in dire shortage in April and May.

The Delhi government’s action plan includes setting up of a state-level task force and pediatric task force, increasing the number of health workers and oxygen plants, arranging medicines and rapidly getting the population vaccinated

The Delhi government is preparing to set up a total of 44 oxygen plants in Delhi.

As of the month of June, 27 oxygen plants had been installed by the government. By the end of July, 17 more oxygen plants are expected to have been set up. In Delhi, the central government has set up six oxygen plant centres and is expected to receive seven more.

Three oxygen storage tanks have been built with a capacity of 57 metric tonnes per tank. For the uninterrupted supply of oxygen, 18 oxygen tankers will be brought from Bangkok. Two cryogenic bottling plants with 12 metric tonnes capacity will be operational by July 31.

Also, two special task forces have been set up in Delhi to handle the possible third wave of Covid-19.

The first one is the pediatric special task force which has been constituted for the management of Covid-19 in children. It has eight members and will make preparations keeping in mind the possible effect of the third wave on children.

The second one is a state-level expert committee which has been constituted to reduce the impact of the possible third wave and for its management. This committee of 13 officers will prepare an action plan to increase Delhi’s health infrastructure on the basis of the current health infrastructure, supply of medicines and oxygen and future requirements.

Also, a graded response action plan (GRAP) has been prepared for Delhi to handle the possible third wave. As per this action plan, different Covid circumstances will be dealt with in different ways.

There are four types of alerts under Delhi’s GRAP;

Level-1 (Yellow) – This will be applicable when the positivity rate is more than 0.5 per cent for two consecutive days, 1,500 new cases have emerged in one week or 500 oxygen beds have been occupied in seven days.

Level-2 (Amber) – This will be applicable when the positivity rate is more than 1 per cent for two consecutive days, 3,500 new cases have emerged in one week or 700 oxygen beds have been occupied in seven days.

Level-3 (Orange) – This will be applicable when the positivity rate is more than 2 per cent for two consecutive days, 9,000 new cases have emerged in one week or 1,000 oxygen beds have been occupied in seven days.

Level-4 (Red) – This will be applicable when the positivity rate is more than 5 per cent for two consecutive days, more than 16,000 new cases have emerged in one week or 3,000 oxygen beds have been occupied in seven days.

Anxiety is your body’s natural response to stress. It’s a feeling of fear or apprehension about what’s to come. Ordinary anxiety is a feeling that comes and goes, but does not interfere with your everyday life. But, in the case of an anxiety disorder, the feeling of fear may be with you all the time. It is intense and sometimes debilitating.

Anxiety disorders are the most common form of emotional disorder and can affect anyone at any age. According to the American Psychiatric Association, women are more likely than men to be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.

During this uncertain era of Covid-19, people have their own set of legitimate concerns. People have been hesitant whether to receive a jab of the vaccine or not as it might have severe side-effects. With most of the reactogenic side-effects considered temporary inflammatory reactions, newer reports have highlighted that a lot of these side-effects are actually resultant of anxiety and not the vaccine in itself. While data released by the Indian government had revealed startling findings, similar reports are also available globally and proves for a fact that anxiety around COVID-19 vaccination is indeed, a concerning factor.

Immunisation-related anxiety reactions, as they are termed as a range of symptoms or side-effects which arise around inoculation and related to anxiety, and not really the vaccine product in itself.

While there can be a lot of reasons for anxiety to stem up in the first place, a common reason for hesitancy remains the fear, or phobia of needles (also referred to as trypanophobia). Recent studies have also indicated that needle phobia may be the cause of at least 10-15% of vaccine hesitancy cases in the UK and the US.

Anxiety in itself can manifest into different reactions and symptoms. When it comes to vaccination, anxiety or irrational fear of any kind can lead to an internalized stress response, which then shows up through a number of vasovagal responses, which are very similar to some vaccination side-effects and inflammatory reactions.

Right now, there’s no correct classification of what side-effects post vaccination could be reactogenic, and which ones could be anxiety-related.

However, having said that, since heightened stress levels fuel an internal physiological response that leads to a number of vasovagal reactions, some of the reported symptoms could be considered to be causative of anxiety, and not directly of the vaccine. As per case studies, some side-effects such as palpitations, elevated heart rate, nausea, fatigue, neurological symptoms such as shaking, weakness, dizziness or loss of consciousness could be linked to anxiety and extreme nervousness around vaccination. These reactions could also be fueled by underlying conditions as well.

In comparison to this, the most common and prevalent side-effects resultant of the vaccine administration are inflammatory in nature, such as running a mild fever, muscle pain, pain at the injection site, chills and weakness (flu-like reactions).

Experts also believe that rising anxiety around COVID-19 vaccination cannot just confuse precedence of post-vaccination side-effects, but also, in a way, hamper the efficacy of some of the COVID-19 vaccines as well.

Anxiety and stress, both often linked to each other, are known to weaken the immune system, and in a way, impact the immune system’s ability to fight off antigens. When stress rises, it triggers the release of cortisol in the body, which manifests into a number of reactions and release cytokines, which are a chemical that fuels inflammation in the body. Thus, it could happen that when a person faces an immense amount of stress or experiences anxiety, it may limit the vaccine’s ability to prompt the right immune response and lead to more inflammation.

The entire population worldwide is anxious about getting vaccinated, and most of us have either been partially (atleast first dose) or fully vaccinated. Though there are long debates and experts have been discussing and talking about the pros and cons of different vaccines throughout the globe. Though the vertex concern of the discussions are always regarding the extent of their efficiency but the whole scenario falls apart upon the side effects. Although beforely, the known side- effects ranged from blood clots, heart inflammation, but now, there’s now a new danger that seems to lurk with the administration of certain COVID-19 vaccines- Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS), a rare, but serious neurological disorder. The FDA has now added a note of warning with one of the COVID-19 vaccines being approved for use, Johnson and Johnson’s Jannsen one-dose vaccine after some cases of neurological complications were reported after administration of the novel single-dose vaccine. 

Guillain-Barre syndrome is a rare disorder in which your body’s immune system attacks your nerves. Weakness and tingling in your extremities are usually the first symptoms. These sensations can quickly spread, eventually paralyzing your whole body. In its most severe form Guillain-Barre syndrome is a medical emergency. Most people with the condition must be hospitalized to receive treatment.

The exact cause of Guillain-Barre syndrome is unknown. But two-thirds of patients report symptoms of an infection in the six weeks preceding. These include respiratory or a gastrointestinal infection or Zika virus. 

The FDA has considered issuing an advisory with the usage of the Jannsen COVID-19 vaccines after at least 100 cases of Guillain Barre Syndrome were identified in people who had been vaccinated with the single-dose COVID-19 vaccine shot in the USA.

While the classification of the condition is still rare, out of the total 13 lakh people inoculated with the novel vaccine, 95 of the 100 cases were found to be ‘serious’ in nature, requiring hospitalization, with one death recorded as well, accounting for it to be an adverse and serious reaction post-vaccination. The incidents of Guillain Barre Syndrome and related symptoms were found to happen roughly 6 weeks post inoculation, which was later confirmed by Johnson and Johnson as well. 

As per WHO, the syndrome, which primarily attacks the nerves, affects the peripheral nerves which control muscle reaction, neuro-transmission, sensations, touch and connections. GBS has been termed to be a serious, threatening adverse reaction with the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine right now. Medically, it is considered to be an autoimmune reaction, or flare-up, since it is an attack launched by the body’s own defences. Upon infection threat (or infection mimicked by a vaccine), the WBCs and antibodies put in charge to protect the body mistakenly attack the healthy cells and cause problems to vital organs. The risks with GBS are flagged to potentially be serious and require hospitalization because in this case, the immune system launches an attack on the healthy nerves, which are crucial to our functioning. The peripheral nervous system, which is impacted by Guillain Barre Syndrome is involved in connecting our central line nerves to major organs and parts of the body, including vital organs, limbs and the skin, and thus, any symptoms need to be treated at once and often require additional treatment or hospitalization.

As found by authorities, while vaccination-related GBS in most cases has required hospitalization, one of the cases also led to death and hence, classified as a serious adverse threat, much like blood clotting and myocarditis risk with vaccines.

While most cases of GBS have been unfortunately recorded with the J and J COVID vaccine, it’s not the only vaccine that has come into question. Most recently, the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine (sold and marketed as Covishield in India) was linked to some neurological damages in some of the people who had been vaccinated. A total of 11 cases (7 from Kerala, India and 4 from Nottingham, UK) were recorded, wherein the beneficiaries had received the COVID-19 vaccine 10-22 days prior to the incidents.

Surprisingly, both the Jannsen and the Astrazeneca vaccine have been found to carry similar adverse side-effects post inoculation, including blood clots and now, neurological damage.

In general terms, Guillain-Barre syndrome is known to occur in several forms. The main types are:

• Acute inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (AIDP),the most common form in North America and Europe. The most common sign of AIDP is muscle weakness that starts in the lower part of your body and spreads upward.
• Miller Fisher syndrome (MFS),in which paralysis starts in the eyes. MFS is also associated with unsteady gait. MFS is less common in the U.S. but more common in Asia.
• Acute motor axonal neuropathy (AMAN) and acute motor-sensory axonal neuropathy (AMSAN)are less common in the U.S. But AMAN and AMSAN are more frequent in China, Japan and Mexico.

WHO and Johnson and Johnson have listed the following are the primary symptoms of the nervous syndrome which needs medical attention ‘right away’:

-Weakness and tingling sensations, in the legs and arms.

-Swelling or reactions in the body

-Facial numbness or weakness

-Loss of sensation

-Problems with vision (double vision/ difficulty in moving eyes)

-Difficulty walking, making movement

-Difficulties with facial movement, including speaking, chewing or swallowing.

-Poor bladder control

There’s no known cure for Guillain-Barre syndrome, but several treatments can ease symptoms and reduce the duration of the illness. Although most people recover from Guillain-Barre syndrome, the mortality rate is 4% to 7%. Between 60-80% of people are able to walk at six months. Patients may experience lingering effects from it, such as weakness, numbness or fatigue.

India’s coronavirus deaths rose by a record 3,780 during the last 24 hours, a day after the country became the world’s second, after the United States, to cross the grim milestone of 2 crore total cases mark. Daily cases rose by 3,82,315 to 2,06,65,148 since the pandemic broke out in January 2020. India has recorded more than 3 lakh cases a day for nearly 15 days in a row, since April 22. So far, 22.2% of the whole population of the country i.e. 304,018,852 people took the first jab whereas, only 5.4% of the entire population i.e. only 73,333,649 people are fully vaccinated.

Niti Aayog member (health) VK Paul amid the ongoing apprehension of a third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, on Tuesday said the third wave is already there in the world and the wave has already recorded 3.90 lakh cases, 40 per cent of the number of cases reported in the second wave, which recorded around 9 lakh Covid-19 cases. “Our task is to ensure that the wave does not come in India,” said the Niti Aayog member during the official briefing of the Union health ministry. Citing global data, the Union health ministry said that the United Kingdom, Russia, Bangladesh, Indonesia are seeing a surge in the number of Covid-19 cases, which is indicating at a new wave of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Scientists and experts are studying the reason for the current surge in cases in India and particularly whether a variant first detected in the country, called B.1.617, is the reason. It has been classified by scientists in the United Kingdom as a “variant under investigation” and has been partially blamed for the explosion in the number of cases in India.

Meanwhile, K VijayRaghavan, principal scientific advisor to the government, on Wednesday warned that a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic was inevitable. At a press conference, VijayRaghavan spoke about the future of the coronavirus crisis. He said that vaccines have to be “updated” to deal with new strains of the virus, along with further surveillance.

“A phase three is inevitable, given the higher levels of circulating virus,” he said. “But it is not clear on what time scale this phase three will occur. Hopefully, incrementally, but we should prepare for new waves. Previous infections and vaccines will cause adaptive pressure on the virus for new kinds of changes which try to escape. We should be prepared scientifically to take care of that.”

VijayRaghavan said new variants are transmitted in the same manner as the original strain. “It doesn’t have properties of new kinds of transmission,” he added. “It infects humans in a manner that makes it more transmissible as it gains entry, makes more copies and goes on, same as original.”

Although, VijayRaghavan also said that vaccines were effective against the variants. “New variants will arise all over the world and in India too, but variants that increase transmission will likely plateau,” he said. “Immune evasive variants and those which lower or increase disease severity will arise going ahead.”

To avoid the limited number of beds and struggle of lack of oxygen from happening this time too, the central government and the other higher authorities are paying serious attention to this matter.

Thai authorities placed Bangkok under strict lockdown Monday in an attempt to contain surges of Covid-19 driven in part by the infectious Delta variant, one of several countries in the region battling deadly surges. Thailand’s vaccination campaign initially made use of China’s Sinovac vaccine, later rolling out the AstraZeneca shot. The vaccines have become a key foreign policy tool for China, which staunchly defends their quality and efficacy and rolled them out long before they had gone through late stage clinical trials. Now, as the cases spiked in Thailand, the Government decided to increase the scale of vaccination, now, instead of two Sinovac shots, people will now receive the AstraZeneca vaccine after their first Sinovac shot.

Health workers already fully vaccinated with Sinovac will also receive a third booster from a different vaccine. This can be either the AstraZeneca vaccine, or an mRNA vaccine like Pfizer/BioNTech. This third dose will be given three to four weeks after their second Sinovac jab, said the country’s National Infectious Disease Committee on Monday.

AstraZeneca is currently the only other vaccine available in the country, with Pfizer/BioNTech shots donated by the US set to arrive soon

The decision came after hundreds of medical workers caught Covid despite being fully vaccinated with Sinovac. Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the plan “is to improve protection against the Delta variant and build a high level of immunity against the disease,” Reuters reported. One nurse has died and another medical worker is in critical condition, the ministry said. 

The incidents add to escalating concerns over the efficacy of Chinese-made vaccines, especially with the infectious Delta variant, as fierce outbreaks tear through some of the world’s most vaccinated nations using the shots and relatively unvaccinated countries refuse shipments of them. 

While the Sinovac vaccine has been granted emergency authorization by the World Health Organization, its 51% efficacy only just exceeds the WHO’s 50% efficacy threshold for Covid-19 vaccines and lacks public clinical data to back up manufacturers’ often inconsistent claims. 

According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showing results from Chile, Sinovac has an efficacy rate of 65.9% against Covid-19, is 87.5% effective at preventing hospitalisation and 86.3% effective at preventing death.

Thailand is currently in the midst of a spike of new infections, reporting a record high of 9,418 on Sunday. The death toll for the previous day stood at 91, also a record number.

Concerns over the efficacy of the Chinese vaccine amid rising cases have sharply driven demand for other shots offered by some private clinics.

Last week, one clinic selling the US Moderna vaccine on an online shopping platform saw its offer sold out within minutes. The Phyathai Hospital offered 1,800 vaccination slots for a single Moderna shot at 1,650 Thai baht ($50, £36) via Shopee.

Overall, Thailand has seen more than 345,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and nearly 2,800 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, according to figures collated by Johns Hopkins University from around the world.

Meanwhile, the virus has now strengthened its clutch in Sydney. Sydney recorded 112 new coronavirus cases on Monday, a 45% spike from the previous day, as the locked-down Australian city battles its largest outbreak since beating back the first wave of the pandemic more than a year ago.

“We just want people to stay at home,” New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney on Monday. “The virus won’t spread if people don’t leave home. That is the bottom line.” At the weekend, Australia’s most-populous city recorded its first death since April after the delta-strain leaked into the local community in mid-June.

The city of 6 million people has been in lockdown since June 26, and faces being increasingly isolated from the rest of the nation after Berejiklian indicated that the current stay-at-home orders may need to be extended beyond Friday.

Also Read:- All We Need To Know About The Varying ‘Variants’ Of Virus

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Though the Covid graph is flattening in the country, the country is still in an alarming state. The trepidation of the upcoming (if not tended properly) unavoidable third – wave along with the dreadful consequences has terrified millions of people yet over again. The infamous variants of virus are raising the concern. Labelled as the ‘variant of concern’ Delta was categorised by the Health Ministry as a major threat.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a US government interagency group developed a variant classification which includes the following three categories:

*Variant of interest
*Variant of concern
*Variant of high consequence

As per CDC report a ‘variant of concern’ is one for which there is evidence of an increase in transmissibility, more severe diseases that require hospitalisation or death, a significant reduction in neutralisation by antibodies generated during previous infection or vaccination, reduced effectiveness of treatments or vaccines, or diagnostic detection failures. The ‘Delta Plus’ variant made it to the list as it manifested three such characteristics – increased transmissibility; stronger binding in receptors of lung cells; and potential reduction in monoclonal antibody response.

‘Variants of concern’ include B.1.1.7 or Alpha first identified in the UK, B.1.351 or Beta first identified in South Africa, and B.1.427 or Epsilon first identified in the US. Earlier, World Health Organisation (WHO) had identified the Delta variant or B.1.617.2, first found in India, as a ‘variant of concern’.

In spite of reports calling the Delta variant the “fastest and fittest variant”, the UK government is still moving forward with easing restrictions, planning to move to in England on 19 July.  

“Of course the pandemic is not over. The virus is still with us, it hasn’t gone away – and the risk of a dangerous new variant that evades vaccines remains real,” said Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in statement of Parliament. 

Meanwhile, Lambda, the latest COVID-19 variant of interest is prevalent in 30 countries and is becoming an increasing cause of concern across the world. While the world is still dealing with the rise in cases due to the Delta variant, this new variant is the reason behind the fresh increase in cases in European and American countries. It still hasn’t entered the country, “had it entered India, it would have been detected by INSACOG (The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium of Genomics)”, Niti Aayog member (health) VK Paul said on Friday, during the press briefing of the health ministry.

The third type i.e. the ‘variant of consequences’ is a variant of high consequence, which has clear evidence that prevention measures or medical countermeasures (MCMs) have significantly reduced effectiveness relative to previously circulating variants. The CDC said a variant found to be of “high consequence” would require it be reported to the World Health Organization.

Whereas, the health ministry also commented on the reports of Kappa variant cases in Uttar Pradesh and said that the variant of interest is not new in India. It was detected at the same time when the Delta variant was reported. But in the course of time, Kappa got overshadowed by Delta. “If cases are detected, this means that the variant has stayed in the country. Delta is a related variant of Kappa. Kappa is much less in its intensity. There are many variants in the country. Not all cases are of Delta variant. Our watch will continue,” Dr VK Paul said.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday (July 8, 2021) said that civic and government-run vaccination centres in Mumbai won’t be administering COVID-19 vaccines on Friday (July 9, 2021) due to a shortage of vaccines. According to the statement by BMC, the vaccination drive at these centres will remain suspended on Friday and will resume only after they receive fresh stock of vaccines. The BMC in a statement mentioned, “Citizens of Mumbai are constantly informed about the vaccination, depending on the availability of vaccine stocks, and an appropriate decision has been taken.”

As per BMC’s report, a total of 58,84,019 citizens have been inoculated in the city till Wednesday, and of these, 12,29,546 beneficiaries had received the second dose as well. While, on Thursday BMC informed that Mumbai reported 540 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total in the maximum city caseload has reached 7,26,824. There are presently 7,714 active cases in Mumbai.

Dr Rajesh Dere, Dean of BKC Jumbo Covid Centre said on Thursday that if Mumbai manages to administer the second dose to 30-40% population, only then the threat of the third Covid wave can be subsided.

“47% population administered with 1st dose. Preparations are being made for a possible third wave. If we manage to administer the 2nd dose to 30-40%, population, COVID threat can be reduced,” Dr Dere said.

After a brief spell when the city was administering around 1 lakh jabs daily, vaccination in Mumbai has been inconsistent over the last couple of weeks. Additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani said the corporation is receiving stock that is enough to last for only two to three days.

“We understand that sometimes people don’t get vaccines because supply exhausts. But instead of stretching our stock over several days, it makes more sense to take more walk-ins and vaccinate more people within two to three days. I have spoken with state government officials. We expect more stock in July as compared to June,” said Kakani.

 Meanwhile, the nation’s capital is struggling with shortage of vaccine again. The city has been vaccinating over 1.5 lakh people for the last two weeks almost on a daily basis. The previous week, the city vaccinated over 2 lakh people on a single day.

“Last week, vaccinations were carried out in Delhi in record speed. At present, however, there are no vaccines, and the supply from the Centre is not coming in either. I appeal to the Centre to provide vaccines as per requirement to the people of Delhi,” Deputy CM Manish Sisodia tweeted.

In Delhi, close to 1.5 crore out of 2 crore people are eligible for the vaccines. Of these, 65 lakh or 43% people have already got at least one shot of the vaccine. Around 13% people have got both shots. According to the government’s bulletin, over 80,000 people were vaccinated on Tuesday. Of these, over 43,000 were in the 18-44 age group.

Of close to 20 lakh people who have got both doses of the vaccines, around 13 lakh are above the ages over 45, 1.8 lakh are aged between 18 and 44, while the remaining are healthcare and frontline workers.

Throughout the world there are185,354,379 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 4,008,610 deaths across nearly 200 countries recorded since China reported its first cases in December 2019. The US remains the worst-hit country with 34,618,968 cases, followed by India, Brazil, France and Russia. India on Wednesday recorded a spike of 43,733 new infections, taking the total caseload to 30,663,665, according to MoHFW. As per the new data death count increased to 404,211 with 930 new fatalities. The five most affected states by total cases are Maharashtra (6,113,335), Kerala (2,981,721), Karnataka (2,856,491), Tamil Nadu (2,500,002), and Andhra Pradesh (1,905,023). Meanwhile, Kerala reported 14,373 new infections, followed by Maharashtra (8,418), Tamil Nadu (3,479), Andhra Pradesh (3,042), Karnataka (3,104), Delhi (79) and West Bengal (962).

While, on this Saturday Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin concluded after the phase-3 clinical trial claiming to be 77.8 per cent effective against COVID-19. Also it added that Covaxin gives 65.2 per cent protection against the SARS-CoV-2, B.1.617.2 Delta variant. It was also found to be “93.4 per cent effective” against severe symptomatic COVID-19, the company said. Covaxin is a whole virus inactivated vaccine against SARS-CoV2, developed by Bharat Biotech in partnership with ICMR and NIV Pune.  

The Phase 3 clinical trial was an event-driven analysis of 130 symptomatic COVID-19 cases, reported at least two weeks after the 2nd dose, conducted at 25 sites across India. 

Dr. Krishna Ella, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharat Biotech, said, “The successful safety and efficacy readouts of Covaxin as a result of conducting the largest ever Covid vaccines trials in India establishes the ability of India and developing world countries to focus towards innovation and novel product development. We are proud to state that Innovation from India will now be available to protect global population.”

“The successful development of Covaxin has consolidated the position of Indian academia and Industry in the global arena,” Prof. (Dr) Balram Bhargava, Secretary Department of Health Research & Director General Indian Council of Medical Research, said.

Bharat Biotech co-founder Suchitra Ella said in a late-night tweet, “We are proud to put India on the global map with scientific conviction, competence and commitment. Covaxin scores 10 world-class publications endorsing Innovation, clinical research, data, safety, efficacy. Thank collaborators & Positive BB teamwork enduring a pandemic.”

In a statement, the vaccine maker further said, “Efficacy analysis demonstrates Covaxin to be 77.8 per cent effective against symptomatic COVID-19, through evaluation of 130 confirmed cases, with 24 observed in the vaccine group versus 106 in the placebo group.”

Covaxin produced in India in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research and National Institute of Virology was approved for emergency use in January 2021, even though its Phase III trials were ongoing. This decision was criticised by many experts as there was not enough evidence proving that the vaccine worked in neutralising the virus. The statement released by Bharat Biotech claims that Covaxin was not only effective against the original strain but also all the other variants B.1.617.2 (Delta), B.1.617.1 (Kappa), B.1.1.7 (Alpha), B.1.351 (Beta), P2- B.1.1.28 (Gamma).at varying efficacies. The vaccine produced neutralising antibodies against all the strains.
Bharat Biotech’s final results come at a time when it needs approval in other countries such as US that require complete efficacy data for authorising emergency use. Even the WHO required the company to send Phase III results to apply for Emergency Use Listing from the WHO. While Covaxin has received EUA from 16 countries, its purchase order was suspended in Brazil after reports of corruption in this deal were raised in the Brazilian parliament.