'Other countries have more to worry about Delta plus variant than India'

 "Other countries have more to worry about the Delta variant than we do," said national science chair and former chairman of the National COVID-19 Supermodel Committee of the country, Mathukumalli Vidyasagar on Thursday in an interview with Business Today.

Vidyasagar was one of the researchers who came out with SUTRA projection model to predict the trajectory of the COVID-19 graph during the second wave and the predictions of the model turned out true.

"Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium ( INSACOG) so far has not found Delta plus variant presence in India in significant numbers. So right now, we are not worried about it. We factor in a variant which is 50 per cent more infectious than Delta plus, so in the worst-case scenario, this new variant is nowhere close to that," he said.

Vidyasagar believes that spike in other countries is happening because whichever Covid-19 vaccine they have administered, they are not effective against delta variant and delta plus variant because these are the dominant variants around the world.

Talking about the post-festive season spike, he said that it is too soon after Diwali to make any quantitative estimates or assessment because typically the virus has an incubation period of 8-10 days.

"The impact of increased contact between people in the festive season would be realized in next 8-10 days. We will not have an increase today or tomorrow because it's too soon," Vidyasagar added.

On the possible third wave, Vidyasagar said, "We are continuing with our simulations, projection and modelling but so far we don't see a major third wave on the horizon."

He went on to add that vaccines in India are showing long lasting impact against the virus.

"I think the kind of spike we saw last time during the second wave, we will not see that kind of spike again no matter what happens from here on," Vidyasagar said.

Also Read: COVID-19 exposes state of India's healthcare sector; check out some numbers

Also Read: Vaccine hesitancy greatest threat in overcoming COVID-19 pandemic: Serum Institute