Indians have developed healthy levels of immunity through natural infection and vaccines after being exposed to the Wuhan virus, which triggered the first Covid wave, followed by the deadly Delta variant and over 250 Omicron variants in recent years.
As a result, new Covid variants may evade immunity and cause new infections, but these will be mild, according to Dr Vinay K Nandicoori, Director of the Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB).
“After experiencing three major Covid waves, we have developed good hybrid immunity, which means our body immunity recognises coronavirus and acts accordingly. This doesn’t mean that we will not get infected; we can get infected, and some may develop symptoms but they would not be severe. That’s why people are not getting worked up here,” Dr Nandicoori was quoted as saying.
In response to the ongoing Covid waves in the US and China, he stated that a similar outbreak in India is unlikely. “It appears the severity of Covid variants at a particular place is determined by local dynamics. Such micro-differences are going to happen in the future. For instance, China and the US are experiencing waves of new infections but the rest of the world is not,” he explained.
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Despite a new wave of Covid infections in other countries as a result of the new variants, the Omicron XBB variant has remained dominant in India. “It is clear that at present, immunity among the majority of Indians is able to fight the Omicron variant. The question is what is the long-term memory of our body’s immunity towards coronavirus? Answers to such questions will depend on when was the last time an individual was vaccinated and what was the vaccine. Such questions will determine the future course of the Covid pandemic,” he said.
CCMB to step up wastewater surveillance
With new Covid variants being reported in China and the US, the CCMB, which is part of the INSACOG consortium of genome sequencing laboratories (INSACOG), intends to ramp up wastewater surveillance in India.
“Wastewater surveillance gives us extra time to figure out the presence of new variants so that the healthcare system can respond quickly. Due to the present situation, we are going to do this surveillance more frequently,” CCMB Director Dr Vinay K Nandicoori said.
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