GEIS-新闻详情

India to study indigenous vaccines' efficacy against Delta Plus Covid-19 variant

2021-06-24 00:00:00.0 海峡时报-亚洲原网页

NEW DELHI (XINHUA) - India's two top health research bodies are set to conduct a study to examine the efficacy of Indian vaccines against the Delta Plus variant of the Covid-19 virus, local media reports said on Thursday (June 24).

About 40 cases infected with the Delta Plus coronavirus strain had been reported in the Indian states of Maharashtra, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh as of Wednesday.

The Delta Plus variant is a mutant version of the Delta strain first detected in the South Asian country, which is considered highly infectious and fast-spreading.

The two research bodies to conduct the study are the Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Virology.

"The newly emerged Delta Plus variant has possible increased transmissibility, higher binding capacity to the lung cells and resistance to monoclonal antibody treatment," Dr Pragya Yadav, head of the National Institute of Virology's Maximum Containment Facility, was quoted by local media as saying.

"Looking at this scenario, Delta Plus variant could be a concern, and a high watch should be undertaken and containment of affected zone should be done to reduce the transmission."

Dr Yadav said that samples have been collected for the related study to start soon.

"As per earlier data concerning Delta variant, neutralisation was happening with the existing vaccines in India. Though neutralisation has dropped, it's enough to protect against Delta variant," she said.

"Delta Plus should also behave (in a similar manner). We are working in this direction. We have isolated this variant and we are going to conduct a study soon."

The study is likely to involve the Indian-manufactured Covaxin and Covishield vaccines that are currently being used to inoculate the majority of the Indian population.