Delta Plus Mutation

June 24, 2021

Syllabus- General Studies 3(science and technology)

Bilateral, Regional and Global groupings and agreements involving India and affecting

India’s interests.

Context

Recently in India around 40 cases of the Delta coronavirus variant carrying a mutation that appears to make it more transmissible have been found, and states are advised to increase testing.

What is Delta Plus?

The variant, called “Delta Plus” in India, was first reported in a Public Health England bulletin on June 11.
It is a sub-lineage of the Delta variantfirst 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.
Some scientists worry that the mutation, coupled with other existing features of the Delta variant, could make it more transmissible.
“The mutation K417N has been of interest as it is present in the Beta variant (B.1.351 lineage), which was reported to have immune evasion property,” India’s health ministry said in a statement.
The K417N was known to reduce the effectiveness of a cocktail of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies.

Spread of the variant

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).
Britain said its first 5 cases were sequenced on April 26 and they were contacts of individuals who had travelled from, or transited through, Nepal and Turkey.
No deaths were reported among the UK and Indian cases.

Concerns

Studies are ongoing in India and globally to test the effectiveness of vaccines against this mutation.
WHO is tracking this variant as part of the Delta variant.
WHO says that this variant does not seem to be common, and currently accounts for only a small fraction of the Delta sequences.
But India’s health ministry warned that regions where it has been found “may need to enhance their public health response by focusing on surveillance, enhanced testing, quick contact-tracing and priority vaccination.”

There are worries Delta Plus would inflict another wave of infections on India after it emerged from the world’s worst surge in cases only recently.

Question- Write a short note on delta plus variant of Covid.

Article- https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-what-is-delta-plus-a-variant-of-coronavirus-with-k417n-mutation-7372317/