Covid-19 norms, vaccination shields against mutants, future waves: Experts

With the second wave of the Covid19 pandemic ravaging the country and concerns being raised about a possible third wave experts caution that the next wave could be less severe if people keep following Covid19 appropriate behaviour and a large portion of the population is vaccinatedAccording to the Union Health Ministry data released on Sunday morning India recorded 403738 fresh Covid19 cases in the last 24 hours pushing the countrys cumulative tally to 22296414 while the death count climbed to 242362 with 4092 daily deathsThere has been a sharp surge in infections over the past couple of months making the second wave much worse than the first one that began in early 2020 and peaked in the last quarter of that year before the tally hit a trough in the first quarter of 2021Several experts believe that a casual approach that followed the trough of the first wave could be a possible reason for the pandemic raising its head again though others are also putting the blame on the new mutants and variants of the virus being more virulentK VijayRaghavan Principal Scientific Adviser had said on Wednesday last week that the third wave was inevitable and it was necessary to be prepared for new waves but clarified two days later that the insidious asymptomatic transmission can be stopped if prescribed guidelines about precautions surveillance containment treatment and testing are followedIf we take strong measures the third wave may not happen in all places or indeed anywhere at all It depends on much how effectively guidance is implemented at the local level in the states districts and cities everywhere he saidAccording to experts in a few months when the immunity people have developed naturally or with the help of vaccination fades the virus strikes again and the only thing that can stop the virus from bouncing back is how people are guarding themselvesEarly this year as the new cases receded people started interacting as if there was no virus The immunity had already started declining They organised mass gatherings they stopped wearing masks giving the opportunity to the virus to strike again said Dr Anurag Agarwal director Institute of Genomics and Integral Biology New DelhiWhile we anticipate a third wave we cannot say when exactly it will come or how severe it will be But if people keep following Covid19 appropriate behaviour in coming months and we are able to vaccinate a large number of people the third wave could be less severe Dr Agarwal addedWhile the sudden surge in the number of cases during the second wave has led to panic among people what is adding to their fear is the constant threat of new mutants of the virus and how these mutants could potentially harm themSome experts however believe that mutations are a common phenomenon and the mutations do not generally affect the prevention treatment or vaccinationEvery virus while replicating in the hosts body mutates The virus is a prolific multiplier but its replication is errorprone and so every copy it makes of itself may not be its exact replicaAny change minor or major that occurs in its structure is known as a mutation A virus undergoes hundreds and thousands of such mutations said Dr Saumitra Das Director National Institute of Biomedical Genomics NIBMG Kalyani and professor Indian Institute of Science BangaloreExperts also said that every mutation cannot be a cause of concern and genome sequencing of a virus is done to keep a track of any mutation that can make a virus more dangerousWhat concerns us is whether a mutation is making it more transmissible or virulent whether a mutation has the potential to make the existing medicines or vaccines ineffective against the virus If so the mutant is classified as a variant of concern VoC said Dr DasMutations shown so far in the novel coronavirus have not warranted any change in the required treatment or vaccines but experts believe it is technologically possible to tweak the medicine or a vaccine quickly to fight a mutant that poses a threat to their efficacyBut in the case of Covid19 since its spread has been so rapid it is not giving our scientists enough time to identify all the mutants And so the role of Covid19 appropriate behaviour is as critical as ever in controlling its spread said Dr Arun Sharma a community medicine expert and director of NIIRNCD ICMR JodhpurHe said a virus mutant can escape the bodys immunity and undo the efforts to developing an effective vaccine or medicine against it but chances of it escaping the shield called Covid19 appropriate behaviour are lowA threeply mask frequent hand washing or sanitising maintaining physical distance avoiding crowd especially indoors are still most effective in controlling the spread of Covid19 virus Dr Sharma addedHe said any virus starts a chain of transmission by infecting the most vulnerable population and it keeps infecting till the time everyone susceptible is infected and then it starts dying outWe treat the patients with antiviral drugs and we protect the population through vaccination These measures help us break the viruss chain of transmission he addedThis 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