Journalism of Courage
As of June 23, India has recorded 40 cases of the Delta Plus variant, which appears to be more contagious than its predecessor. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)
The Delta Plus variant was first reported in a Public Health England bulletin on June 11. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)
The Health Ministry of India also warned about the latest variant of its "immune evasion property". (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)
It is a sub-lineage of the Delta variant first detected in India and has acquired the spike protein mutation called K417N which is also found in the Beta variant first identified in South Africa. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)
Shahid Jameel, a top Indian virologist, said the K417N was known to reduce the effectiveness of a cocktail of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies. (Express Photo by Arul Horizon)
As of June 16, at least 197 cases had been found from 11 countries — Britain (36), Canada (1), India (8), Japan (15), Nepal (3), Poland (9), Portugal (22), Russia (1), Switzerland (18), Turkey (1), the United States (83). (Express Photo by Gurmeet Singh)
Authorities in India are fearing a third wave due to the high transmissibility of the Delta Plus variant. India had seen the highest death toll in the second wave. (Express Photo by Gurmeet Singh)
“The mutation itself may not lead to a third wave in India — that also depends on Covid-appropriate behaviour, but it could be one of the reasons,” said Tarun Bhatnagar, a scientist with the state-run Indian Council for Medical Research.(Express Photo by Gurmeet Singh)
Daily fresh cases of Covid have come down from four lakhs during the peak of the second Covid wave to around 50,000 in the past few days
After cases were found in India, Health ministry has urged states to step up public health response by focusing on "surveillance, enhanced testing, quick contact-tracing and priority vaccination". (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)
