How much of a threat is the ‘Indian’ COVID-19 variant?
Scientists have identified a so-called double mutant variant of SARS-CoV-2 emerging from coronavirus-ravaged India, which has concerned UK authorities enough to recast their vaccination strategy.
Key advisers in the UK predict the B.1.617.2 variant, first identified in the state of Maharashtra in India’s west, will usurp the so-called UK variant B.1.1.7 and become dominant.
But Associate Professor Sanjaya Senanayake, an infectious diseases specialist at the Australian National University medical school, says it’s unclear how much the variant is responsible for the crisis in India.
“It’s just very hard to tease out its impact when the health system is totally overwhelmed and patients can’t get oxygen,” Professor Senanayake told Australian Doctor.
