India on Sunday reported 2,593 Covid cases and 44 fatalities. The cumulative caseload is 43,057,545 (15,873 active cases) and 522,193 fatalitiesWorldwide: Over 509.20 million cases and over 6.21 million fatalities.Vaccination in India: Over 1.87 billion doses. Worldwide: Over 11.23 billion doses.TODAY’S TAKEEven Covishield’s protection wanes against OmicronA joint study by the Indian Council of Medical Research’s National Institute of Virology (ICMR-NIV), Dr D Y Patil Medical College, Pune along with Kasturba Hospital for Infectious Diseases and Seven Hills Hospital, Mumbai has found that the immunity generated by Covishield among those with no history of Covid-19 was the lowest when compared to those who had breakthrough infections or had recovered.The study, which is in the pre-print stage in the Journal of Infection, observed that “even with the high vaccination coverage in the country, large number of the breakthrough cases were reported and created hesitancy for vaccination.’ It adds that “the waning immune response post vaccination is the probable cause and important factor associated with these breakthrough infections.”As part of the study, the research team collected serum samples from 24 Covid-19 naïve individuals — those who had never contracted Covid-19 — after 180-days of full vaccination, that is, after receiving their second dose of Covishield and from 17 people who had earlier recovered from Covid and vaccinated with two doses of Covishield. The third group had 46 people who got SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infection after two doses of Covishield, with their serum samples collected 14-30 days after the infection.At 0.11, the study’s findings showed that the geometric average concentrations of neutralising antibodies in the serum of Covid-naïve group were the lowest against Omicron as against those who were vaccinated after recovering from a Covid-19 infection and those who suffered a breakthrough infection — contracted Covid-19 after being fully vaccinated.A similar study had earlier found that even Covaxin offers limited protection against Omicron — which due to mutations has acquired immune-escape abilities — among those who never contracted Covid-19. Experts from the ICMR-NIV, who conducted both the Covaxin and Covishield investigations, said the findings strengthen the case for administering booster shots to people as soon as they are eligible.TELL ME ONE THINGOver 70% of Covid-19 hospitalised patients suffer from long Covid, says UK studyA British study published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine Journal says that just 29% of Covid-19 hospitalised patients reported being fully recovered even after a year, indicating that long Covid could become more common than earlier studies suggested.What the study found
The study, which involved more than 2,320 people, looked at the health of people who were discharged from 39 British hospitals with Covid between March 2020 and April 2021, assessing the recovery of 807 of them five months and one year later.It found only 26% reported a full recovery after five months with that number rising marginally to 28.9% after a year. Between men and women, the latter had a higher proportion suffering from long Covid — at 33% — than menIt also found that obese people were half as likely to fully recover, while those who needed mechanical ventilation were 58% less likely.Implications
The sequelae of a hospital admission with Covid-19 were substantial one year after discharge across a range of health domains, with only a minority feeling fully recovered. Patient-perceived health-related quality of life was reduced at one year compared with before hospital admission.The most common long-Covid symptoms were fatigue, muscle pain, poor sleep, slowing down physically and breathlessness.Follow news that matters to you in real-time.
Join 3 crore news enthusiasts.Written by: Rakesh Rai, Sushmita Choudhury, Tejeesh Nippun Singh
Research: Rajesh Sharma
