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The 'delta plus' variant is a mutated version of the more aggressive B.1.617.2 strain that drove the second wave of infections in India. It is characterised by the K417N mutation in the spike protein of the SARS-CoV2 virus that causes the COVID-19 disease.
The spike protein is one that helps the virus enter and infect human cells, and the K417N mutation has been associated with immune escape, or evasion, that leaves it less susceptible to the vaccine or any form of drug therapy.
However, there is no cause for concern as reports of the new variant are still low and there is no indication, as yet, about the severity of the disease, Anurag Agrawal, Director of Delhi's CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), told news agency PTI.
Another scientist, Vinod Scaria, also from CSIR-IGIB, said the K417N variant was more frequent in Europe and America at this time. He also said travel histories were not immediately available, meaning it is unwise to assume how far it may have spread.
The 'delta plus' variant is resistant to the monoclonal antibody cocktail treatment for COVID-19 that was recently authorised in India. Casirivimab and Imdevimab are designed to block the virus from attaching to human cells and entering the body, and are similar to antibodies that the human body naturally produces to defend itself against the disease.
However, Vineeta Bal, a guest faculty at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Pune, told PTI that resistance to therapy did not indicate higher virulence or severity of disease when contracted.
She also noted that the quality and quantity of neutralising antibodies - responsible for defending cells from pathogens - generated naturally by an individual infected with the new variant is unlikely to be affected because of the mutation.
According to UK health regulator Public Health England, 63 B.1.617.2 genomes with the K417N mutation have been identified so far. In its latest report it said 'delta plus' was present in six genomes from India. It also said 36 cases had been confirmed in that country and 'delta plus' accounted for about six per cent of all cases in the United States.
Anurag Agrawal said the blood plasma from many fully vaccinated individuals will have to be tested against this variant to determine whether it shows any significant immune escape.
The 'delta' variant of COVID-19 is up to 60 per cent more transmissible than other strains, There are studies that contradict each other in establishing vaccine efficacy against it. One by Delhi's AIIMS (which hasn't been peer reviewed yet) suggests it can infect people even after they have received both doses of Covaxin or Covishield. Another, presented in a research letter published in The Lancet, says the AstraZeneca shot (sold in India as Covishield) and the Pfizer vaccine do offer protection against the variant.
With input from PTI
