Even though India recently recorded the highest ever surge in the Covid 19 cases, the top virologists and medical experts say that the new strains are not as dangerous as perceived.
New Covid Strains Have Lesser Fatality Rate
Amulya Panda, Director of National Institute of Immunology (NII) (India’s premier Institute for vaccines) said that even though the new strains of the Coronavirus is spreading faster and causing breathlessness, is not as fatal as compared to the previous ones.
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The NII Chief who led the team of experts and developed a new protein-based Covid 19 vaccine suggested that the new strain of the virus is dangerous but is not as dangerous as the previous one.
Panda said that it is not easy to predict whether in the near future the current strains of Covid 19 could be lethal and the degree of the same. But currently, the new strains are not as dangerous as people think of them to be.
She further went on the explain the behaviour patterns of the new coronavirus strains. She said that the fundamental quality of the Covid 19 virus is that it keeps on mutating.
For example, when we see the HIV virus, it’s been around for more than a decade. But we still haven’t been able to develop a vaccine against it as it keeps mutating on a daily basis.
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Similarly the flu virus also mutates yearly and that’s the reason we have a new flu vaccine every year.
Covid 19 Vaccines Will Be Effective Against New Strains
Panda then spoke about the efficiency of the Covid 19 vaccines against the Coronavirus. SHe said that all vaccines will be pretty much effective against the virus even if there are new strains. She assured that the vaccine is effective and will continue to work. Because of the mass vaccination drive across the country, the number of critical cases are less in number as compared against the spread of the virus.
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Talking about the Triple mutants of Covid 19 that were found in different parts of the country, Radiologist Sandeep Sharma said that they need more data to understand how potent the new variant could be. He said that he has seen reports that suggest that this variant is more infectious than the previous ones. But they need solid data to establish the same.
He said so far he has seen the CT Scans of over hundred Covid patients in Delhi, the infection is on the critical edge but it can be treated.
