Global response vital to fight virus variant: India

Volunteer social worker Ashok Kurmi, dressed as a clown interacts with children while he sanitises an area and spread awareness to follow the Covid-19 coronavirus safety protocols inside a slum area in Mumbai. Kurmi is helping an army of young fans fight the coronavirus in Mumbai’s slums using an unusual accessory: a clown costume. “With the help of different costumes, I can spread awareness without scaring people. I am able to help them a little,” Kurmi said.

The coronavirus variant first identified in India is highly infectious and can be caught by people who have already had the disease or been only partially vaccinated, a panel of Indian government scientists said in a report published yesterday. Dubbed the “delta variant” by the World Health Organisation, it is estimated to be 50% more transmissible than the coronavirus variant first found in Britain, researchers at Indian Sars-CoV-2 Genetics Consortium and the National Centre for Disease Control said. They warned that “prior infections...and partial vaccination are insufficient impediments to its spread, as seen in Delhi, and strong public health response will be needed globally for its containment.” The variant has spread to over 50 countries, including the Britain, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that its rapid spread could affect the reopening of the economy. India’s new cases have steadily declined in large cities over the past few weeks, but rural areas remain in the grip of a disastrous second wave of infections. Experts have warned that the country needs to ramp up the pace of vaccinations to avoid future surges in infections among its population of more than 1.3bn people. Under fire for a slow vaccine roll-out, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has been in talks with major foreign vaccine producers to boost supplies even as domestic manufacturers scramble to boost output. On Thursday, the US laid out a plan to share 25mn surplus Covid vaccine doses with countries including India. Experts and government officials have said vaccinations are key to opening up parts of the country that have been under lockdown for weeks. Some states such as Delhi and Modi’s home state of Gujarat are gradually loosening restrictions. In Gujarat, authorities allowed shops and other commercial establishments to remain open for longer hours from yesterday, the Gujarat government said. “With states showing restraint in reopening, the economic recovery from this virus wave will be more gradual than last year,” said Darren Aw, Asia Economist at Capital Economics in Singapore. “But the slow vaccine rollout means that rapid reopening would increase the threat of renewed virus outbreaks, potentially with more contagious variants.” India yesterday reported 132,364 new coronavirus infections over the last 24 hours, while deaths rose by 2,713 — the lowest in over a month.