By Jaemie Talingdan
As the pandemic swept different parts of the globe, COVID-19, like most viruses, has constantly changed through mutation, causing multiple variants to emerge from all over the world. One of the most recently identified is B.1.617, more commonly known as the Indian variant.
The Indian COVID strain was the fourth to be designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a “variant of concern”, following those first detected in the United Kingdom (B.1.1.7), South Africa (B.1.351), and Brazil (P.1).
Just as daily COVID-19 infections in the country fell to a nearly eight-week low, the Philippines has detected a total of 12 cases of the Indian coronavirus variant. While it is not yet clear how much of India’s current surge is caused by this variant and how it has spread across the globe, let us take a look at what we know so far.
Increasingly infectious
Studies suggest that the Indian variant is more contagious than the original form, causing the recent tragic surge in cases and deaths in India. As of May 2021, India has recorded over 24 million COVID cases since the start of the pandemic, with a death toll of over 262,000.
Like other variants, mutations that enhance the virus’ binding ability caused the virus to be more infectious. One of the variant’s mutations, L452R, modifies the part of the spike protein that directly interacts with ACE2, the molecule on the surface of human cells which the virus binds to gain entry. This allows the virus to bind to human cells more stably and penetrate easily.
Impact on immunization
Although the emergence of new variants does not render vaccines useless, the Indian variant contains mutations that may have an impact on vaccine efficacy. Mutations L452R and E484Q affect the virus’ spike protein, potentially making the virus resistant to antibodies that are generated by vaccination or by natural infection.
Some studies have also found that in some cases, the virus has mutated to become less recognizable to human antibodies which would normally attach to its spike protein and block its entry. This allows the virus to infect people who have already been vaccinated or previously infected.
Averaging at over 6,000 new cases daily, the Philippines is in no shape to accommodate another surge of infections. Even with vaccination efforts in the works, this is no time for us to be complacent. The existence of such variants and mutations is only one of the many reasons why we are not out of the woods yet. With that said, our duty as Filipino citizens amidst the pandemic remains the same: to continue being responsible individuals whilst demanding proper responses from those in charge.
References:
https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/we-know-so-far-covid-19-variant-found-india
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/covid-india-variant-update-uk-b1832611.html
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