Low fatality but high ICU admissions-the new Covid pattern

In mid-January, the world saw more than three million Covid cases daily. Soon after, the number of new infections fell sharply and kept declining through February. However, March brought another surge in parts of Asia and Europe. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(e){if(void 0!==e.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var a in e.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r Not as deadly a waveCases are rising in south and east Asia with countries like South Korea and Vietnam reporting the highest numbers. Deaths, however, have not increased proportionately. Vietnam is recording lakhs of cases but fewer than 100 deaths daily.In fact, in Vietnam and Japan, deaths are on a declining trend despite the increase in cases. Across Europe, daily deaths are steady despite the rise in cases. South Korea is an exception as cases and deaths have risen in step there. (The charts below show the number of cases of the left axis and the deaths and ICU numbers on the right axis.) medium nocaption90376512Untitled Carousel 90311600India shows ‘immunity’In India, the third wave – which has been the least deadly of all Covid waves – continues to be in the cool-down phase as both cases and deaths are falling. medium nocaption90377991Vaccine inequity may breed variantsBut India and other countries cannot afford to be complacent. More than a year after vaccines were rolled out, many nations have still not vaccinated even half of their population. Only about 4% of Nigerians are fully vaccinated. As the World Health Organisation has warned, this vaccine inequity will keep the global Covid situation volatile. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(e){if(void 0!==e.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var a in e.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r New SARS-CoV2 variant may fuel 4th waveIn fact, recombinant or hybrid variants of SARS-CoV2, which were initially dubbed as one-off cases, are now being monitored closely by the WHO. They are essentially new variants with characteristics of two or more existing variants.Scientists say a close monitoring of such variants is necessary for timely identification of recombinants that may have immune-escape properties, meaning they can cause Covid-19 infection even in those who have been infected previously or those who have been vaccinated. medium nocaption90376488Countries like the US, the UK, France and Israel have already reported multiple instances of recombinant variants in people suffering from Covid-19. These recombinant variants share characteristics of both Delta and Omicron.In India, no specific instance of such a recombinant variant has been reported yet, said Dr S K Sarin, vice-chancellor of Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS), where genome sequencing on samples taken from Covid-19 patients is being carried out. “The latest results of genome sequencing conducted at our virology lab shows that nearly 98% of the variants in circulation are BA.2 while the rest are BA.1 — both sub-lineages of the Omicron variant.”He, however, stressed on the need to continue surveillance for timely identification of recombinant or newer variants that could lead to a fourth wave.Untitled Carousel 90337004