Could it be that the Indian variant, like the Brazilian and SA variant is nothing to seriously worried about?

[user19097527484949]

There was a lot of talk a few months ago of the Brazilian and South African variant.. but neither have completely messed things up for us yet. Could it be the same with the Indian one ? Fingers crossed !

Fingers crossed indeed!

We don't know either way for sure, yet, but it's beujng intensively studied. I am confident that the international scientific community will spot variants and investigate.

Dunno but personally given what I have been reading from the scientists, I am concerned.

It could be. But at the moment we don't know.

So we are being asked to be cautious.

If we are lucky it will turn out that all variants are manageable and not too scary. But that will take time.

I haven't read anything specific m that makes it sound more worrying, it's probably slightly less contagious than B117, no evidence it's more harmful I don't think and no evidence yet (fingers crossed) that it evades the vaccines.

I'm not fully up to date but I haven't seen anything yet that suggests why it would be more of a concern

Chris Whitty was quite circumspect at the podium today.

Basically there's not enough known yet but incidence is low so no need to panic, just be aware.

These variants weren’t a problem because they were identified and caught early here. If we do the same with the Indian one, it’s likely not to be a problem. If we don’t then it could cause a problem here.

Not an issue.

We don't know. The indian variant is out competing the kent variant in London and places in the Midlands. It does appear to be highly transmissable. Kids and uni students not vaccinated yet. So another wave is certainly not out of the question. It will probably not be as deadly due to vaccines but it's still likely to cause a lot of people to need medical help and/or miss work/school.

And there is obviously long covid to consider too

I’m still wary of the SA variant and the AZ vaccine. Is there any data to show how effective AZ is against this?

I don't think it's going to be as bad as the "original " variant.

You forgot the British variant. Cancelling your Christmas and killing those that had the misfortune to be around in the same Swiss ski resort.

Do you watch the news? Looks pretty bad in India with their variant. Not that we will have it that bad, for several reasons, vaccines not being the only one. But it was announced today it was more much more transmissible than the Kent variant. Even if vaccines stop people getting seriously ill and dying, getting moderately ill is actually pretty bad and comes with a risk of long Covid. You would be surprised how utterly dreadful the scientific definition of 'moderate' is.

@oooparis

Do you watch the news? Looks pretty bad in India with their variant. Not that we will have it that bad, for several reasons, vaccines not being the only one. But it was announced today it was more much more transmissible than the Kent variant. Even if vaccines stop people getting seriously ill and dying, getting moderately ill is actually pretty bad and comes with a risk of long Covid. You would be surprised how utterly dreadful the scientific definition of 'moderate' is.

Did you see all the stuff said about the Brazilian variant a while ago ?

It seems to be spreading much faster than the others so far, community spread has gone up in just a few weeks even though infection rates generally are low.

Very anecdotal of course but there was a school case reported where the infected kids infected every single member of their households (6 households in total) - that's quite unusual.

@Lemons1571

I’m still wary of the SA variant and the AZ vaccine. Is there any data to show how effective AZ is against this?

If you look at the screen shot someone has posted above. What it shows is results from various vaccines against all the variants.

The way it works is that if one vaccine is good against a variant then the others are likely to be too. So hospitalisation and death reduction is pretty much a guarantee. The only difference is reduction of infection and transmission. There may be small variations in this but they will all work.

So because AZ is proven to work against the India variant the others are too. That also applies to AZ and the south African variant. Pfizer works so AZ will work.

The trial that confuses people was not using the longer gap we know AZ needs. It used a 3/4 week gap. So to short for the antibodies to build up. It was also a lab dish study. So the antibodies didn't have the immune system and t cells to help them.

I hope so but young people & children are being very badly affected in other countries.

@oooparis Your post is really misinformed.

Firstly, India are in the situation they are in because they have a corrupt & useless government, not because the Indian variant is any more dangerous than the Kent variant. Lab studies also show that ALL of the vaccines currently available are effective against it, but wait... how is the vaccination programme going for India?

Secondly, scientifically defined “moderate” Covid isn’t that horrendous at all. It’s slightly worse than mild, not requiring hospitalisation and certainly not severe.

But then a great number of people in this country have not had any vaccine yet.

@SonnetForSpring

And there is obviously long covid to consider too

This is perhaps the main concern.

I was feeling so optimistic until I saw the news today so half all London cases are the Indian varient?

How did it get in when we have quarantine people?

I felt hopeful but with a new varient seemingly seeding as Prof whitty says as we are on the cusp of mass mixing!!

How did it get in when we have quarantine people?

Our 'quarantine' consisted of people travelling to 'home quarantine' from the airport on busy public transport.

India's per capita death and hospitalization rates are trivial compared to the US and UK at peak! Absolute numbers mean nothing without a denominator to put them in context.

I have also heard from both Indian news sources and people in India that many hospital beds are occupied by people with minor or no actual symptoms but a positive test -- the moment a very rich person gets a bit of a cough and positive test, their relatives are bribing and networking them into getting a bed at a good hospital. At some hospitals, as much as 40% of the patient population, including many receiving oxygen, have mild symptoms that would be likely to resolve at home. The people being turned away simply aren't connected enough.

India is having a cultural problem as much as a pandemic problem, sorry to say.

How did it get in when we have quarantine people?
I recall seeing a news item which showed the "red list" queue at passport control next to the non-red list queue. The system relied on the virus knowing it wasn't allowed to cross the tape separating the two queues...

There's more than 1 Indisn variant. One of them is very serious that we don't want running free here.

Some vaccinations have been tweaked for the SA variant. There's nothing for the worse Indisn mutation.