Indian strain: Health admits its delays to trace strains in crisis for the Indian variant

Five months after the UK launched the alert on its most contagious and deadly strain, the Health Ministry continues to admit its shortcomings in tracking variants. Today, the mutation of English origin is already predominant (it exceeds 90% in several communities), but the one from India is of particular concern. The new strain is wreaking havoc in the country, with more than 300,000 infections and 3,000 deaths every day. It is known that it is more transmissible and its ability to resist the immune response is being studied, although the department of Carolina Darias recognizes its problems in tracking the strains. This is stated in the latest update on the circulation of Covid variants, where the Indian strain is already mentioned. A mutation that, however, does not include in the list of those that focus the attention of the Ministry. In Spain there are already several confirmed cases and the ship docked in Vigo, where 3 infections have already been detected, is of particular concern. The Ministry of Health report admits, on the other hand, the delays in the strain tracking system. “Currently cases have been detected with the variants with the greatest impact on public health (VOC) in various Autonomous Communities. Confirmation of these cases requires genomic sequencing. The number of cases sequenced depends to a great extent on the sequencing capacity of each one of them, therefore they do not represent the prevalence in the different regions. The integration of sequencing in epidemiological surveillance with random population samples is in the process of being implemented “, assumes Health.“Although the information available in SiViEs is still incomplete, we have data pertaining to week 12 (the most recent week with enough data to be considered representative) for 10 communities and the two autonomous cities. Due to the response time of the sequencing techniques, the information from the last weeks is not very representative, “he adds. It is less important. Despite the fact that when Health published this report the Indian strain was already causing havoc, it is not included in those considered” of greater impact. in public health. “Health dedicates a paragraph to it in which it rules out for now including it in that category:” The variant recently detected in India, belonging to the lineage B.1.617, has aroused interest due to the presence of mutations possibly related to the escape immunity such as E484Q and L452R (the latter also possibly implicated in increased transmissibility) and their rapid expansion in that country (although the number of sequenced cases is very small compared to the total number of cases). However, there is still no evidence that the variant has contributed to the increased incidence in India or its possible real impact on immunity. It would be necessary to have a greater proportion of sequenced cases to know the true incidence as well as in vitro and real-world studies on its possible effect on natural or acquired immunity. ”The Ministry of Darias has shown to be behind once again of events. Despite the warnings – the president of the Community of Madrid Isabel Díaz Ayuso demanded to close borders – the mutation is already a reality in our country.The minister has assured that the Indian strain does not behave with “special virulence”, despite the increase in cases and deaths in that country, although she has said that the health authorities will continue with “maximum vigilance and maximum alertness.”