The Indian Weekender, 07 May 2021

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14 INDIA Friday, May 7, 2021 The Indian Weekender What is the India Covid variant and will vaccines work? A coronavirus variant identified in India is being investigated by scientists across the world. However, it is not yet known how far it has spread or whether it is driving the deadly second wave of Covid in India itself. What is the India variant? Viruses mutate all the time, producing different versions or variants of themselves. Most of these mutations are insignificant - and some may even make the virus less dangerous - but others can make it more contagious and harder to vaccinate against. This variant - officially known as B.1.617 - was first detected in India in October. How far has it spread? Sample testing is not widespread enough across India to determine how far or quickly the variant is spreading. It was detected in 220 out of 361 Covid samples collected between January and March in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. Meanwhile, it has been spotted in at least 21 countries, according to the GISAID global database. International travel appears to have brought the variant to the UK, where 103 cases have been identified since 22 February. Most travellers from India have now been banned from coming to the UK. And Public Health England has listed the India variant as one of several "variants under investigation" but does not so far consider it serious enough to be classified as a "variant of concern". What are the Brazil, South Africa and UK variants? Is it more infectious or dangerous? Scientists do not yet know whether this variant is more infectious or resistant to vaccines. Dr Jeremy Kamil, a virologist at Louisiana State University, says one of its mutations is similar to those seen in variants identified in South Africa and Brazil. And this mutation may help the virus evade antibodies in the immune system that can fight coronavirus based on experience from prior infection or a vaccine. But what appears to be more worrying at the moment is a variant identified in the UK, which is dominant in Britain and has spread to more than 50 countries. "I doubt whether the Indian variant is more infectious than the UK variant - and we must not panic," Dr Kamil says. Why is so little known about it? Much of the data around the India variant is incomplete, scientists say, with very few samples being shared - 298 in India and 656 worldwide, compared with more than 384,000 sequences of the UK variant. And after the first recorded cases in India, fewer than 400 cases of the variant have been detected worldwide, Dr Kamil says. Is it driving the second wave in India? India has been reporting about 200,000 Covid cases daily since 15 April - well beyond its peak of 93,000 cases a day last year. Deaths too have been rising. India's high population and density is a perfect incubator for this virus to experiment with mutations," says Ravi Gupta, a professor of clinical microbiology at the University of Cambridge. However, the wave of cases in India could have been caused by large gatherings, and lack of preventive measures such as mask-wearing or social distancing. • Why second Covid wave is devastating India Dr Jeffrey Barrett, from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, says it is possible there could also be a cause-and-effect relationship with the new variant, but there is still a lack of evidence. He points out that the India variant has been around since late last year: "If it is driving the wave in India it has taken several months to get to this point which would suggest it's probably less transmissible than the Kent B117 variant." Will vaccines still work? Scientists believe existing vaccines will help control the variant when it comes to preventing severe disease. Some variants will inevitably escape the current vaccines, according to a paper published in Nature by Prof Gupta and his fellow researchers. As a result, changes to vaccine design will be needed to make them more effective. However, the vaccinations now available are still likely to slow down the spread of the disease. "For most people, these vaccines can mean the difference between little to no disease and ending up in the hospital with a risk of dying," says Dr Kamil. "Please take the first vaccine you are offered. Do not make the mistake of hesitating and waiting for an ideal vaccine." INDIA COVID: Opposition calls for full national lockdown India's main opposition party has called for a full national lockdown, shortly after the country passed more than 20 million Covid-19 infections. There has been a "virtual collapse of health services" and a lockdown is needed to "break the chain", a spokesman for the Congress party said. The prime minister is resisting the move due to the economic impact. India added more than 355,000 cases, down from more than 400,000 daily infections on 30 April. Cases are "slowing down", the government said, but testing numbers have also dipped meaning the true caseload could be far higher. "We are now forced - there is no option - [we] will have to resort to a national lockdown to break the chain, to restore some order in the health services," Pawan Khera, a spokesman for the opposition Congress party said. Rahul Gandhi, a senior Congress leader, said there was no other way to stop the spread of the virus. Calls for a second national lockdown have also come from business leaders, international health experts and other senior politicians. Members of India's Covid-19 taskforce, which advises the central government, are "pushing hard" for a two-week lockdown, The Indian Express reported. We are now forced - there is no option - [we] will have to resort to a national lockdown to break the chain, to restore some order in the health services Dr Anthony Fauci, America's top public health expert, described the situation as "extremely serious" and said a nationwide lockdown was needed alongside a massive vaccination drive and the construction of makeshift hospitals. The decision to impose restrictions in India is made by individual state authorities rather than the central government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that states should only consider restrictions as "a last option". But many states have still introduced restrictions. The northern state of Bihar is the latest to have announced a full lockdown while the capital, Delhi, and the financial hub, Mumbai, are also under restrictions. Prime Minister M o d i was heavily criticised last year for imposing a nationwide lockdown with less than four hours' notice. It caused a humanitarian crisis as tens of thousands of migrant workers were left without work and forced to walk hundreds of kilometres to their home villages. The lockdown also saw India's economic output fall by a record 24% between April and June 2020 compared to the same period a year earlier, and the government has said another national lockdown would have dire consequences for the economy. India's second wave has been fuelled by lax safety protocols and massive public festivals and election rallies. It has overwhelmed its hospitals and delays in testing, diagnosis and treatment - as well as a shortage of critical care beds and crucial drugs - have resulted in a spike in deaths. The country has so far reported more than 222,000 deaths due to the virus. But experts say India's Covid death toll is vastly under-reported. There have been very long lines at crematoriums, mass funeral pyres and cities running out of space to bury or cremate the dead. Are infections actually slowing down? India's cases have risen over the past week, but at a slower rate than in previous weeks. And daily cases have fallen in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra which are all hotspots of the crisis. Erratic testing, however, makes it hard to gauge the significance of these numbers. Insufficient testing has proved to be another issue. Health officials said there was "cautious hope" of some respite from the second wave. But Lav Agarwal, joint secretary of the health ministry, said progress needed to be sustained by "containment measures at district and state level". Experts have also said other hotspots are likely to emerge in the coming weeks as the pandemic moves through the country. Meanwhile, an oxygen shortage has shown no signs of abating and people in several hotspot cities, including Delhi, are struggling for treatment. Is India's vaccination drive helping? A sluggish vaccination campaign has compounded the crisis. Since January, India has administered more than 157 million vaccine doses which ranks third in the world after China and the United States. But just over 10% of India's 1.4 billion people have had one dose and only about 2% have received both doses. Despite being the world's biggest producer of vaccines, India is facing a shortage of supplies. And vaccination rates are down. The chief executive of India's Serum Institute, the world's biggest vaccine manufacturer, has warned shortages will last for months.
The Indian Weekender Friday, May 7, 2021 WORLD 15 COVID VACCINE: Biden unveils plan to vaccinate young Americans US President Joe Biden has announced new vaccine targets, including a plan to jab young teenagers once a Covid-19 vaccine is approved for children. It comes as US drug officials consider approving the Pfizer- BioNTech vaccine for children ages 12 to 15, which could happen as early as next week. A new study shows that US children account for 22% of new daily Covid cases, up from 3% last year. The announcement could ease fears for parents about schools reopening. The president's new plan also targets vaccine-hesitant groups with incentives and by making the jab more accessible. Around half of Americans have gotten their first jab and one third are fully vaccinated, but vaccination rates have slowed in recent weeks. What's the plan for teens? The US Food and Drug Administration is weighing whether to approve the Pfizer vaccine for children as young as 12. Pfizer's vaccine is currently approved in the US for people as young as 16. Mr Biden said he would not interfere with the FDA process, but "if that announcement comes, we are ready to move immediately," he pledged. In a speech at the White House, Mr Biden said that shipments of vaccine will be sent directly to paediatricians allowing children to get their first dose from their medical provider. "Easy, fast and free," Mr Biden said, adding that 15,000 pharmacies will also be made available to teenagers to get their jab. And if teens are on the move this summer they can get their first shot in one place and get their second shot elsewhere," he added. If approved, the vaccine will immediately become available to approximately 17 million teenagers ages 12 to 15. Experts, such as top US researcher Dr Anthony Fauci, say it is necessary to vaccinate children in order for life to return to normal. With 75% of American seniors now fully vaccinated, rates of infections have increased in unvaccinated children. What incentives are being offered? Mr Biden also announced that he was speaking to US businesses to announce shopping discounts for vaccinated Americans. "We're working with major sports leagues to launch special promotions for their fans. Things like ticket giveaways, instadium vaccinations, discounts on merchandise and other creative ways to make it easier and more fun to get vaccinated," he said. Mr Biden also pleaded with Americans who are sceptical The Pentagon has said it is tracking a large Chinese rocket that is out of control and set to reenter Earth's atmosphere this weekend, raising concerns about where its debris may make impact. The Chinese Long March 5B rocket is expected to enter Earth's atmosphere "around May 8," according to a statement from Defense Department spokesperson Mike Howard, who said the US Space Command is tracking the rocket's trajectory. The rocket's "exact entry point into the Earth's atmosphere" can't be pinpointed until within hours of reentry, Howard said, but the 18th Space Control Squadron will provide daily updates on the rocket's location through the Space Track website. The rocket was used by the Chinese to launch part of their space station last week. While most space debris objects burn up in the atmosphere, the rocket's size -- 22 tons -- has prompted concern that large parts could reenter and cause damage if they hit inhabited areas. But Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Astrophysics Center at Harvard University, told CNN that the situation is "not the end of days." "I don't think people should take precautions. The risk that there will be some damage or that it would hit someone is pretty small -- not negligible, it could happen -- but the risk that it will hit you is incredibly tiny. And so I would not lose one second of sleep over this on a personal threat basis," he said. "There are much bigger things to worry about." McDowell explained that pinpointing where debris could be headed is almost impossible at this point because of the speed the rocket is traveling -- with even slight changes in circumstance drastically change the trajectory. of the vaccine to get it anyway, for the sake of their community. Biden lays out plan to vaccinate young US teens "Even if your chance of getting seriously ill [from Covid] is low, why take the risk when you have a safe, free and convenient way to prevent it?" he asked. Several US companies have already offered rewards for the vaccinated. Doughnut company Krispy Kreme is offering a free sweet for the rest of the year to anyone who can prove their vaccination. A cinema in Ohio is offering free popcorn to those who get the vaccine, and some cannabis dispensaries around the country are offering deals to anyone with a vaccination card. What are Biden's new targets? The president set a goal of 4 July - American independence day - of getting a first jab to 70% of adult Americans. He also set an aim of having 160m Americans fully vaccinated by that date. "In two months let's celebrate independence as a nation and our independence from this virus. We can do this and we will do this," he said. Mr Biden has previously set the goal for life to be "back to normal" by that date. "After a long, hard year, that will make this Independence Day truly special - where we not only mark our independence as a nation but we begin to mark our independence from this virus," he said in March. Mr Biden also announced a new website, vaccines.gov, that Americans can use to more easily find vaccination sites after widespread complaints that the sign up process was too difficult for some. Pentagon tracking out-of-control Chinese rocket that could re-enter Earth's atmosphere "We expect it to reenter sometime between the eighth and 10th of May. And in that two day period, it goes around the world 30 times. The thing is traveling at like 18,000 miles an hour. And so if you're an hour out at guessing when it comes down, you're 18,000 miles out in saying where." "And so you should not believe anyone who tells you, 'Oh yeah, I've heard it's coming down in this particular place,' " McDowell added. "Don't believe them at least a few hours before the reentry because we're just not going to know in advance." Still, the ocean remains the safest bet for where the debris will land, he said, just because it takes up most of the Earth's surface. "If you want to bet on where on Earth something's going to land, you bet on the Pacific, because Pacific is most of the Earth. It's that simple," McDowell said. Concern over the space debris comes after China launched the first module of its planned space station last Thursday morning from the Wenchang launch site in the southern island of Hainan, according to the China National Space Administration. China's space station won't launch all at once; it will be assembled from several modules launching at different times. Chinese state media reports that the country's space station will be fully operational by the end of 2022. NEWS in BRIEF Climate change: World's glaciers melting at a faster pace The world's glaciers are melting at an accelerating rate, according to a comprehensive new study. A French-led team assessed the behaviour of nearly all documented ice streams on the planet. The researchers found them to have lost almost 270 billion tonnes of ice a year over the opening two decades of the 21st Century. The meltwater produced now accounts for about a fifth of global sea-level rise, the scientists tell Nature journal. The numbers involved are quite hard to imagine, so team member Robert McNabb, from the universities of Ulster and Oslo, uses an analogy. "Over the last 20 years, we've seen that glaciers have lost about 267 gigatonnes (Gt) per year. So, if we take that amount of water and we divide it up across the island of Ireland, that's enough to cover all of Ireland in 3m of water each year," he says. Biden hopes to meet Putin during Europe trip in June US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that he expects to hold a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his trip to Europe in June. "That is my hope and expectation. We are working on it," Biden told reporters when asked if he plans to meet Putin during his upcoming trip to Europe, the first overseas visit since he took office in January. Biden will attend the Group of Seven (G7) Summit in Cornwall, Britain from June 11 to 13, and hold bilateral meetings with leaders of G7 members. He will then travel to Brussels, Belgium to participate in the NATO Summit on June 14, the Xinhua news agency reported. Biden had proposed a summit with Putin in Europe this summer to address a range of bilateral issues. US media reported earlier that the White House is hammering out the details of the summit. Africa's Covid cases close to 4.58m The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Africa has reached 4,578,902 as of Tuesday, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said. The Africa CDC, the specialised healthcare agency of the African Union, said the death toll from the pandemic stood at 122,589, while 4,125,114 patients across the continent had recovered from the disease. South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Ethiopia and Egypt are among the countries with the most cases in the continent, the Xinhua news agency reported. In terms of the number of cases, southern Africa is the most affected region, followed by northern Africa and eastern Africa regions, while central Africa is the least affected region in the continent, according to the African health agency. Aus state launches scheme to boost Aboriginal tourism The state of W e s t e r n Australia (WA) launched a scheme to promote Aboriginal cultural tourism. The 'Tjina: Western Australian Aboriginal Tourism Action Plan', includes a fund valued at A$20 million to support Aboriginal people wanting to work in that sector and to bolster the untapped tourism potential of the scenically spectacular areas of the state such as the Dampier Peninsula in the Kimberly region, reports Xinhua news agency. The plan was developed by Tourism Western Australia and other government agencies with the Western Australian Indigenous Tourism Operators Council (WAITOC) and the Aboriginal tourism industry. "There is incredible demand for Aboriginal experiences - the Tjina Plan will make sure people will get to have that experience they are looking for while they are travelling around WA," said the state's Tourism Minister David Templeman in launching the plan.
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