Coronavirus Briefing Newsletter – Times of India

• India on Wednesday reported 5,379 Covid cases and 27 fatalities. The cumulative caseload is 4,44,72,241 (50,594 active cases) and 5,28,057 fatalities
• Worldwide: Over 606 million cases and over 6.50 million fatalities.
• Vaccination in India: Over 2.13 billion doses. Worldwide: Over 12.18 billion doses.

• The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on Tuesday approved Bharat Biotech’s intranasal Covid vaccine for restricted emergency use in those aged above 18 years.
• iNCOVACC, which is the world’s second intranasal Covid-19 vaccine — China launched the world’s first on Sunday — is described as a recombinant replication deficient adenovirus vectored vaccine with a pre-fusion stabilised spike protein.
• This vaccine candidate was evaluated in phase I, II and III clinical trials with successful results, the vaccine-maker said.
• Clinical trials were conducted to evaluate iNCOVACC as a primary dose schedule, as heterologous booster dose for subjects who have previously received two doses of the two commonly administered Covid vaccines in India.
• Phase III trials of the vaccine were conducted for safety, immunogenicity in about 3,100 subjects, in 14 trial sites across India, Bharat Biotech said.
• BBV154 has been specifically formulated to allow intranasal delivery. In addition, the nasal delivery system has been designed and developed to be cost-effective in low and middle-income countries.

• This winter, entirely new Covid-19 variants could emerge in European countries. This was recently stated by European Medicines Agency (EMA). Will India also see a surge in the upcoming months?

May be, say some

• Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, health expert and co-chairperson of National IMA Covid Task Force, says, “Nobody can predict when the next variant will come. It can be either milder or severe and worse. So far, six variants have come and gone. These variants will come from people who harbour viruses in their bodies for months. Such people are those with immunosuppressants. In those with kidney transplants, HIV and cancer, the virus can live for over a year. When that happens, it can accumulate tons of mutations.”
• Dr Jugal Kishore, head, community medicine, Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi, says several factors could lead to a spike. “A rise in cases is possible due to the emergence of a new variant. It can also occur if immunity in people, which is high due to natural infections and vaccines, dips. Rampant movement of people without respiratory etiquette can also cause a spike.”

But then..

• Dr Lalit Kant, former scientist and head, epidemiology and communicable diseases division, ICMR, says European winters were different from India, so a surge here may not be uniform and could vary among states.
• “Northern India sees harsh winters, so the weather may not play a key role in a Covid surge. Also, in India, the BA 2.75 variant is dominant so far, while in Europe it is BA 5. However, there is always a chance of a spike. To emerge as a super-spreader, any strain is dependent on majorly two factors — growth advantage and evading immunity. BA 2.75 has shown to evade vaccine and infection immunity and the numbers might increase if this strain becomes dominant,” adds Kant.

The good news

• EMA, however, has noted that existing vaccines should protect people from serious illness and death. More details here.