Health experts say, this fact notwithstanding, aggressive vaccination, testing and contact tracing are key to stopping variant in its tracks
Beneficiaries receive the vaccine at Nair hospital on Wednesday. Pic/Suresh Karkera
With BMC confirming Mumbai’s first death from Delta Plus variant, health experts say genome sequencing and an aggressive vaccination drive will go a long way in fighting Covid-19. So far, 66 Delta Plus cases have been reported, the state government said on Friday. Among them, 10 people were fully vaccinated while eight had taken only one dose of the vaccine before falling ill.
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The state health department, in its report, added that 31 of the 66 Delta Plus cases had mild symptoms and didn’t require hospitalisation. The genome testing confirmed five deaths due to Delta Plus, and all of them were above the age of 65 year and had comorbidities. Two of the five deaths happened in Ratnagiri, and one each in Beed, Mumbai and Raigad.
While the deceased from Raigad and Mumbai had taken both the vaccine doses, the three others were not vaccinated. A 69-year-old man from Raigad died on July 22 and an 80-year-old woman from Ratnagiri passed away on June 13.
Deceased from Ghatkopar
On Thursday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s health department had said that a 63-year-old woman from Ghatkopar had tested positive on July 21 and was admitted to hospital on July 24. She passed away on July 27. The BMC learnt from the state on August 11 that she was among the first Delta Plus casualties across the state.
A passenger is tested for Covid-19 on arrival at Dadar station on Friday. Pic/Ashish Raje
She had interstitial lung disease and obstructive airway disease for which she was taking oxygen treatment at home since before Covid-19. She had no history of travel or past infection, said the BMC.
Samples of six of her close contacts were sent for genome sequencing, and results of two confirmed Delta Plus infection, said the BMC. Results of others are awaited. All of them are fine, said a civic official.
Vaccination important
Dr Rahul Pandit, critical care specialist at Fortis Hospital, said, “I know deaths are happening even among vaccinated individuals. But that [vaccination] is the best way forward [against Covid-19]. With vaccination, the proportion of the vulnerable population will reduce, leaving a significant number of people with a good amount of antibodies. It will also halt the emergence of new variants.”
Dr Pandit, who is also on the state’s Covid Task Force, pointed to the new data on AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine [Covishield in India] from the UK, and called it encouraging. “The study shows hospitalisation has not increased,” he said.
Tracing also crucial
He added that testing and contact tracing will play a key role in the coming days, as the city reopens. Currently, an average of 30,000 tests are conducted daily in the city and about 1 lakh in the state, said Dr Pandit, adding that the figures need to go up.
Calling Delta and Delta Plus as sinister variants, Dr Shashank Joshi, another state Covid-19 Task Force member, said, “Though the number of Delta Plus cases is low, it is too early to jump to conclusions. We should not let our guards down and have stringent genomic surveillance to trace the cases, isolate and treat them to stop further spread.”
‘Need more data’
On the fully vaccinated status of two deceased, Dr Joshi said, “Immune escape with Delta Plus is well known. These deaths are isolated cases. It’s difficult to reach any conclusion. We need much more data.”
Referring to the Lambda variant, which is dominating Peru, Dr Om Shrivastav, an infectious disease expert and a state Covid Task Force member, said the future of Covid-19 handling is intense vaccination drives and genome studies. He said Delta Plus deaths aren’t alarming, but we need to look into details to ensure not to miss out on any aspects that could emerge as a problem later.
Genome sequencing in city
Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani said, “We have started collecting samples for genome sequencing. Our focus is on patients who have died during treatment and whose recovery took a long time and were critical. We are also keeping an eye on people coming to Mumbai from abroad and other parts of India. Our strategy is to help find if there are any other variants in the community.”
Raigad Collector Nidhi Chaudhary said the district had only two Delta Plus cases; while one died, another, a 44-year-old woman, has recovered and is doing well. “There is a certain percentage of the population who have died even after taking both the vaccine doses because of being immunocompromised.” She added, “We contacted 20 close contacts of these two patients out of which four were found positive. They are all doing well.”
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