India Coronavirus Dispatch: Delta variant behind most breakthrough cases

ICMR says third wave likely to be less severe, study finds over 91% 'long Covid' patients took over 7 months to recover, and more-news relevant to India's fight against the pandemic

Nearly 39,000 fresh cases reported

India reported 38,949 fresh coronavirus infections on Friday, taking the cumulative caseload to 31 million, according to central health ministry data. The country saw 542 more deaths due to the pandemic, taking the death toll to 412,531. The active caseload is at 430,422, while the total recoveries have surged to 30.1 million. As many as 395 million vaccine shots have been administered since the nationwide inoculation programme kicked off on January 16. Of these, 3.8 million were given on Thursday. Read more

Over 91% 'long Covid' patients took over 7 months to recover, says Lancet study

A study published in the Lancet’s journal EClinicalMedicine has found that a majority of patients who had "long Covid" took over 35 weeks to recover, a report in the Scroll said. Post-Covid health problems that continue for four or more weeks after infection is termed long Covid. The study examined the responses of 3,762 eligible participants from 56 countries. The study, the largest of its kind on long Covid, estimated the prevalence of a total of 203 symptoms in 10 organ systems, of which 66 symptoms were tracked for seven months. Read more

Delta variant caused 86% of Covid breakthrough infection in India: ICMR study

An ICMR study has found that a majority of clinical cases of breakthrough infection of Covid was caused by the Delta variant, a media report said. However, only 9.8 per cent of cases required hospitalisation and fatality was observed in only 0.4 per cent of cases The study, the largest and first nationwide study of post-vaccination breakthrough infections from India, said its analysis shows that the vaccination does provide reduction in hospital admission and mortality. Read more

Third wave likely to be less severe: ICMR

The third wave of Covid is likely to hit India at the end of August and chances are it will be less severe than the second wave, Dr Samiran Panda, Head of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases at ICMR, told NDTV. "There would be a nationwide third wave but that does not mean that it would be as high or as intense as the second wave," Panda said. Read more

Scores of Indian kids may have missed routine vaccinations in 2020 due to Covid: WHO

Data released by the WHO and UNICEF says as many as 3,038,000 children in India likely missed their first vaccine dose against diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough in 2020 amid the Covid pandemic, a report in ThePrint said. This compares to 1,403,000 children who likely missed the shots in 2019. This means an additional 1.6 million Indian children may have missed their routine vaccinations against vaccine-preventable childhood diseases due to disruptions created by the pandemic, increasing the risk of future outbreaks and deaths. Read more