NIV to test if Covaxin can fight off Delta Plus variant of coronavirus

Pune: The recently discovered Delta Plus variant of SARS-CoV-2 will be isolated and grown at the ICMR-National Institute of Virology to test if it can be neutralised by Bharat Biotech's Covaxin.
The NIV will isolate the variant from samples collected from Covid cases (involving Delta Plus) reported in India, Dr Samiran Panda, chief of Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases (ECD) at ICMR , told TOI on Saturday.
Dr Pragya Yadav, head of the NIV’s Maximum Containment Facility, said, “Serum samples from those given Covaxin will be used to test if they can neutralize Delta Plus.” The NIV team said serum samples from recovered patients will also be used to gauge the neutralization potential of antibodies against the variant.
Delta Plus, or the AY.1 variant, has been found in at least seven Covid cases in the country. It formed after the Delta variant mutated further and features the K417N mutation in the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2.
Dr Yadav said, “We still don’t know how much the mutation allows the virus to escape antibodies. All that has been said so far about the variant's ability to escape antibodies is speculative and needs more analysis.”
Dr Sujeet Kumar Singh, director of the National Centre for Disease Control, said any mutation over the Delta mutation (B.1.617.2) in the variant is called Delta Plus.
Dr Singh said, “Immune-escape ability of the variant is still not established. But it is said that it can have an immune escape property, as this mutation is also in B.1.351 (Beta variant). As of June 18, 205 sequences of AY.1 lineage have been detected worldwide, with US and the UK reporting over half the cases. As of now, two things are key: India has fewer and scattered Delta Plus cases. Second, its potential of high transmissibility, immune-escape and virulence is being studied.”