Covid surge in China raises fears

Hyderabad: The rapid surge in Covid infections in China and subsequent lockdown of Shenzhen city, a major technology hub and Jilin province, apart from the spate of fatalities in Hong Kong, has raised concerns among public health officials, geneticists and epidemiologists here in Hyderabad. While there are no immediate indications of a new variant, which […]

Hyderabad: The rapid surge in Covid infections in China and subsequent lockdown of Shenzhen city, a major technology hub and Jilin province, apart from the spate of fatalities in Hong Kong, has raised concerns among public health officials, geneticists and epidemiologists here in Hyderabad.

While there are no immediate indications of a new variant, which is different from the existing two variants of Omicron, including BA 1, BA 2 and their sub-lineages, experts advised that people should be cautious and not remain under the impression that the Covid pandemic is over.

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“The situation of the Covid pandemic in China, Hong Kong and other countries is developing at a quick pace and there is a definite need for people in Hyderabad and other metro cities in the country to be cautious. Due to a lack of proper information, we do not know whether there is a new variant that has triggered this surge of infections or this is happening due to existing ones. In any case, it’s better to be cautious and wait for more information from the ground to emerge,” says Distinguished Emeritus Professor and former director of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Dr RK Mishra.

Public health officials and experts tracking new variants here believe that Hong Kong is experiencing a spate of deaths because it failed to vaccinate the elderly population. It is believed that China and Hong Kong are experiencing a surge in Covid infections due to a new sub-lineage of the BA 2 Omicron variant, which has been unofficially named BA 2.2. The new sub-lineage of BA 2 appears to have also started to dominate in England, where cases and hospitalisations have started to rise.

“We have been observing this recent trend of the rise of Covid infections. It is a fact that China and Hong Kong managed to control the Covid pandemic through strict lockdowns. However, Omicron is far more contagious and it is difficult to contain it with lockdowns. There is data indicating that the elderly population in Hong Kong was under-vaccinated, which could be an important reason for the surge in fatalities. In quite a contrast, more than 90 per cent of the Indian population either has natural immunity or is vaccinated,” says a member of the SUTRA consortium, which developed the SUTRA mathematical model for pandemics and Distinguished Professor, IIT-Hyderabad, Dr M Vidyasagar.

Senior officials from the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) have also pointed out that since the BA 2 variant of the Omicron has already been a dominant strain in the country, there should not be a cause of concern for people in India.

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