The Delhi government has started calling up about 2,550 people, who had tested positive for COVID-19, to understand the impact of mutations and variants of concern of the virus on people and vaccines, especially the double mutant strain, a senior Delhi government official said.
Of the about 2,550 people, around 1,600 were detected to be infected with mutations and variants of concern during genome sequencing. The rest had tested negative for any of the mutations and variations of concern.
“The idea is to mainly understand the effect of the double mutant on people, whether it is more deadly, infectious, or causing more reinfections. By collecting information from both groups of people, ones who were affected by variants and mutations of concern and others, we will be able to have a better understanding of the effect of double mutant,” the official told The Hindu.
The government has not officially announced any details about the commencement of the study.
The decision to do the study was taken with an increase in double mutant strain of the virus (B.1.617) observed in Delhi, as per officials.
Questions asked
People are asked whether it was the first or the second time they were infected, whether it was a severe infection or not and other questions to understand how the double mutant strain of the virus is affecting people.
“People are also asked whether they had taken the vaccine before getting infected. If yes, then whether they had taken both shots. For instance, if a large number of people who were infected by the double mutant strain of the virus say they got infected even after taking the vaccine, then it will show that vaccines are not working that well against it. But we have just started the process now and can’t say anything right now,” the official said.
The government started calling up people over phone from Friday and the process is expected to be completed this week. The data compiled by the Delhi government will then be analysed by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
Variants of concern
The mutations and variants of concern that are being studied include the U.K. variant, the double mutant strain, and the South African variant.
