Delta variant major reason for Covid-19 breakthrough infection: ICMR study

The Delta variant of SARSCOV2 was behind the majority of clinical cases of breakthrough infection of Covid19 but only 98 per cent of cases required hospitalisation and fatality were observed in only 04 per cent cases according to a new ICMR studyBreakthrough infection is if one gets infected even after immunisation The study the largest and first nationwide study of postvaccination breakthrough infections from India said its analysis shows that the vaccination does provide a reduction in hospital admission and mortalityTherefore enhancing the vaccination drive and immunising the populations quickly would be the most important strategy to prevent further deadly waves of the Covid19 and would reduce the burden on the health care system the study said Two new SARSCoV2 variants Delta AY1 and AY2 were also identified in these study samplesDelta AY1 and AY2 is characterized by the presence of K417N mutation in the spike protein region K417N E484K L452R and E484Q are the mutations known to disrupt receptor binding domain RBD binding capacity and make them more infectious by immune escape mechanisms against the current vaccines This indicates improved virus fitness to evade immune responses and survive against the vaccines the study saidFor the study the Indian Council of Medical Research ICMR collected 677 clinical samples throat swabnasal swabs of individuals who had received two doses and one dose of vaccines Covishield and Covaxin and tested positive for Covid19 from 17 states and Union Territories of the country This study indicated that the majority of the clinical cases in the breakthrough were infected with the Delta variant and only 98 per cent cases required hospitalization while fatality was observed in only 04 per cent casesThe overall majority 8609 per cent of the breakthrough infections were caused by the Delta variant B16172 of SARSCoV2 in different regions of India except for the northern region where the Alpha variant predominated the study said The present study revealed the infection among breakthrough cases predominantly occurred through Delta variants indicating its high community transmission during MarchJune followed by Alpha and Kappa variantsAlso Read Clinical trial for Covid19 vaccines for children on verge of completion Centre to Delhi HCIn the study 67 cases 98 per cent required hospitalization and fatality were observed in only three cases 04 per cent The 17 states and Union Territories from where the samples were collected are Maharashtra Kerala Gujarat Uttarakhand Karnataka Manipur Assam Jammu and Kashmir Chandigarh Rajasthan Madhya Pradesh Punjab Puducherry New Delhi West Bengal Tamil Nadu and JharkhandThe study found that southern western eastern and northwestern regions of India predominantly reported breakthrough infections from mainly Delta and then Kappa variant of SARSCoV2 Out of the 677 patients analysed 85 acquired Covid19 infection after taking the first dose of the vaccine while 592 were infected after receiving both doses of the vaccine A total of 604 patients had received the Covishield vaccine 71 had received Covaxin and two had received Sinopharm vaccineA total of 482 cases 71 per cent were symptomatic with one or more symptoms while 29 per cent had asymptomatic SARSCoV2 infectionThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever