News Analysis India

Tag: WHO

  • BA.2.75, other Omicron sub-variants need to be monitored as they can trigger reinfections: Dr N K Arora

    By Express News Service

    India has not reported a new Covid variant of concern in the past six months. However, there is a need to closely monitor the transmission dynamics and virulence of some Omicron sub-lineages as many of these can trigger reinfections, according to Dr N K Arora, chairperson of the Covid working group, National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI).

    “Across the country, Omicron’s BA.2 and its sub-lineages, including BA.2.38, are the dominant strains. Recently, BA.4 and BA.5 were found in some 10 per cent of samples. BA.2.75 was also detected. Many of them can trigger reinfections, but they have not been associated with severe disease. Overall, the sub-lineages are evolving and their dynamics need to be closely monitored,” Dr Arora was quoted as saying in a TOI report.

    On Thursday, India reported 18,930 new COVID cases in the last 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.  

    ALSO READ | Omicron sub-variant BA.2.75 detected in India, Centre says closely following its clinical behaviour

    According to Dr Arora, the ongoing spike is part of the third wave, not a fourth. “There is another dimension to this. Cases are mostly limited to metros and big cities with high population density. Recently, smaller towns also started to see upticks. Population density, increased travel and gatherings, along with poor adherence to Covid protocols, are factors linked to surges. Important thing is, most patients these days are vaccinated and go on to have common-cold or mild influenza-like illnesses,” he said.

    Meanwhile, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed concern over sub-lineage BA.2.75 of the Omicron variant which has been detected in India and other countries. “The World Health Organisation is tracking this,” he said.

    WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said in a video posted on Twitter that there has been an emergence of a sub-variant that is being called the BA.2.75. It was first reported from India and then from about 10 other countries.

    ALSO READ | Active Covid cases in India rise to 1,19,457; New Omicron sub-variant BA.2.75 detected in country

    She said: “There are still limited sequences available of the sub-variant to analyse, but this sub-variant seems to have a few mutations on the receptor-binding domain of the spike protein. So obviously, that’s a key part of the virus that attaches itself to the human receptor. So we have to watch that. It’s still too early to know if this sub-variant has properties of additional immune evasion or indeed of being more clinically severe. We don’t know that. So we have to wait and see.

    She further said WHO is tracking it and the WHO Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution (TAG-VE) is constantly looking at the data from around the world. “And at any time if there is an emergence of a virus that looks very different from a previous one, enough to be called a separate variant of concern, then the committee will do that.”

    The WHO weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19, released July 6, said that globally, the number of new weekly cases increased for the fourth consecutive week after a declining trend since the last peak in March 2022.

    During the week of June 27 to July 3, over 4.6 million cases were reported, a figure similar to that of the previous week. The number of new weekly deaths declined by 12% as compared to the previous week, with over 8100 fatalities reported. As of July 3, 2022, over 546 million confirmed COVID19 cases and over 6.3 million deaths had been reported globally.

    ALSO READ | Omicron sub-variants are better at evading vaccines, antibody treatments: Study

    The COVID update said that among Omicron lineages, the proportions of BA.5 and BA.4 continue to increase. BA.5 has been detected in 83 countries. Although BA.4, which has been detected in 73 countries, is also rising globally, the rate of increase is not as high as that of BA.5.

    The South-East Asia Region has been reporting an increasing trend in cases since early June, with over 157,000 new cases reported, a 20% increase as compared to the previous week.

    Five of 10 countries (50 per cent) for which data are available showed increases in the number of new cases of 20% or greater, with the greatest proportional increases observed in Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh. The highest numbers of new cases were reported from India (112,456 new cases, an increase of 21 per cent), Thailand (15,950, an increase of 6 per cent) and Bangladesh (13,516 new cases, a 53 per cent increase).

    The number of new weekly deaths in the region increased by 16 per cent as compared to the previous week, with over 350 new deaths reported.

    The highest numbers of new deaths were reported from India (200 new deaths, a 39 per cent increase), Thailand (108 new deaths, a decline of 14 per cent), and Indonesia (32 new deaths, an increase of 7 per cent).

    WHO Incident Manager COVID-19 Abdi Mahamud said that now is not the time to declare that the pandemic is over. “We’re still in the midst of the pandemic and the virus has a lot of force left. So whether it is the BA.4 or BA.5 or BA.2.75, the virus will continue. It does what it does good,”  he said adding that people and communities must continue to wear masks, avoid crowds and ensure that the most vulnerable and high-risk population is protected.

  • WHO urges Southeast Asia to scale up Covid vaccination; praises India’s vax drive

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: As Covid-19 cases are seeing a spike in India and other Southeast Asian countries, the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday called on them to accelerate Covid-19 vaccination coverage.

    The world health body also acknowledged India’s impressive efforts and its support to other countries in providing Covid vaccines when there was a constraint globally.

    WHO said India would soon mark 2 billion doses, accounting for nearly two-thirds of all vaccine doses administered in the region.

    It said that while significant progress has been made in the region towards vaccinating populations against Covid-19, several countries missed the global target to fully vaccinate 70 percent of their total population with all primary vaccine doses by June end, responsible for various regions witnessing a surge in cases.

    “We know that the current Covid-19 vaccines provide high levels of protection against severe disease and death for all variants. We must focus on rapidly achieving high vaccination coverage, prioritising health workers, older adults, those with underlying health conditions, and pregnant women,” said Regional Director, WHO (South-East Asia), Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh. 

    The pandemic is not over yet; we must scale up our efforts to protect communities, she said.

    She congratulated countries that have achieved the target of 70 per cent of their population completing the primary series of Covid-19 vaccination.

    Bhutan has 89 per cent of the population vaccinated with all primary doses, Thailand 79.9 per cent, Maldives 70.4 per cent, and Bangladesh 70.2 per cent. Nepal’s 69.3 per cent is close to achieving the global vaccination goal by June end. 

    “India, which will soon mark 2 billion COVID-19 doses, accounts for nearly two-thirds of all Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the Region,” Dr Khetrapal Singh said, adding that, “We must acknowledge India’s impressive efforts and its support to other countries in providing Covid-19 vaccines when vaccine supplies were a constraint globally.”

    The regional director said many deaths from Covid-19 can be avoided if vaccinations specifically target groups such as healthcare and other frontline workers, the elderly and those with comorbidities.

    The WHO Southeast Asia Region has 64.1 percent population who have completed their Covid-19 primary vaccination series and 71.7 percent population who have taken at least one dose of the vaccine while being home to a quarter of the world’s population with over 2 billion people.

  • Covid vax prevented over 42 lakh deaths in India: Lancet

    Further 599,300 lives could have been saved if the World Health Organization's target of vaccinating 40 per cent of the population in each country with two or more doses by end of 2021 had been met.

  • PM Modi seeks streamlining WHO’s vaccine approval process

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that the World Health Organisation (WHO) must be reformed to build a more resilient global health security architecture and especially called for streamlining its approval process for vaccines and therapeutics to keep the supply chains stable and predictable.

    In his address at the second global Covid virtual summit, Modi, highlighting New Delhi’s role in combating the coronavirus pandemic, and said India’s genomics consortium has contributed to the global database of the virus and it would extend the network to the neighbouring countries.

    Modi, who participated at the summit following an invitation by US President Joe Biden, also noted that India laid the foundation of a WHO Centre for Traditional Medicine in the country last month to “make this age-old knowledge available to the world”.

    The prime minister also called for making flexible the WTO’s rules relating to trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS), in comments that came over a year-and-half after India and South Africa pushed for temporarily waiving intellectual property rights for producing COVID-19 vaccines to effectively deal with the pandemic.

    Noting that the pandemic continued to disrupt lives, and supply chains and to test the resilience of open societies, the prime minister said a coordinated global response is required to combat future health emergencies.

    He said India adopted a “people-centric” strategy to combat the pandemic. “It is clear that a coordinated global response is required to combat future health emergencies. We must build a resilient global supply chain and enable equitable access to vaccines and medicines,” Modi said.

    “The WTO rules, particularly TRIPS need to be more flexible. WHO must be reformed and strengthened to build a more resilient global health security architecture,” he said in the opening session of the summit.

    India has been pressing for the TRIPS waiver to ensure scaling up of the vaccine production for equitable and global access.

    “We also call for streamlining WHO’s the approval process for vaccines and therapeutics to keep supply chains stable and predictable. As a responsible member of the global community, India is ready to play a key role in these efforts,” Modi said.

    In his address, the prime minister highlighted that India’s Genomics Consortium has contributed significantly to the global database on the virus and added that New Delhi will extend this network to countries in its neighbourhood.

    “In India, we extensively used our traditional medicines to supplement our fight against COVID and to boost immunity, saving countless lives. Last month, we laid the foundation of ‘WHO Centre for Traditional Medicine’ in India, with an aim to make this age-old knowledge available to the world,” he said.

    Referring to India’s handling of the pandemic, Modi said the country has fully vaccinated almost 90 per cent of the adult population and more than 50 million children. “Our vaccination programme is the largest in the world. We have fully vaccinated almost 90 per cent of the adult population, and more than 50 million children. India manufactures four WHO approved vaccines and has the capacity to produce five billion doses this year,” he said.

    “We supplied over 200 million doses to 98 countries, bilaterally and through COVAX. India has developed low-cost Covid mitigation technologies for testing, treating and data management. We have offered these capabilities to other countries,” Modi said.

    The prime minister said the Covid pandemic continues to disrupt “lives, supply chains, and tests the resilience of open societies.” “In India, we adopted a people-centric strategy against the pandemic. We have made the highest ever allocation to our annual healthcare budget,” he said.

    Modi participated in the first global virtual summit on Covid-19 hosted by Biden on September 22 last year as well.

    The second summit intends to galvanize new actions to address the continued challenges of the Covid pandemic and build a stronger global health security architecture.

    President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa were among the key leaders who addressed the summit.

    A White House fact-sheet on commitments from the governments and other partners at the summit said India will continue to extend booster coverage to eligible populations and expand vaccinations to those under age 18. It said the country will continue working towards complete vaccination coverage for its adult population.

    With the increased funding allocated for the 2022-2023 domestic health budget, the country will provide insurance coverage for healthcare workers, increase the number of health and wellness centres, it said.

    According to the fact sheet, India will also increase the number of integrated public health and regional disease control laboratories, as well as bio-safety labs. It said the country is increasing “zoonotic surveillance and will continue to supply vaccines and work on extending a SARS -CoV2 genomic consortium to neighbouring countries.”

  • WHO report wrong on four counts: BJP

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: The BJP came out strongly against the WHO data on India’s official Covid toll, alleging that the global agency prepared its report from unverified sources instead of taking help from the country’s robust registration system.

    “WHO’s methodology to estimate deaths in India is flawed and inaccurate. India has strongly objected to the WHO over such report which seems to be based on assumption and obtained from unverified sources,” BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra said, adding that the figures do not look statistically sound and scientifically acceptable.

    “There are four important steps on the basis of which we believe the WHO data is wrong. The first is the method used by the WHO is wrong. Sources of data are unverified. The third (objection) is criteria through which the WHO has placed India in Tier-2 country and the fourth is the use of assumption for imaginary analysis of data.” 

    The World Health Organisation has put the number of Covid deaths in India at around 4.7 million, which is 10-times the official count. The mathematical model, which was used by the WHO to prepare report on Covid deaths, has always been questioned by India, Patra said.

    “A robust system is in place as far as registration of birth and death is concerned through the Civil Registration System under the Registrar General of India. This system is in practice since 1969. It is not proper to make calculation of deaths through other model despite the presence of a robust system in India,” the BJP spokesperson said.

  • Rahul Gandhi attacks government over WHO Covid death numbers 

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday attacked the government over a WHO report which claimed that there were 4.7 million Covid deaths in India, saying “science does not lie, Prime Minister Narendra Modi does”.

    Gandhi also demanded that the government should support the families that have lost loved ones by giving them the mandated Rs four lakh compensation.

    In a tweet, he said, “47 lakh Indians died due to the Covid pandemic. NOT 4.8 lakh as claimed by the Govt. Science doesn’t LIE. Modi does”.

    “Respect families who’ve lost loved ones. Support them with the mandated ?4 lakh compensation,” the former Congress chief said.

    The WHO on Thursday stated that 14.9 million (one million=10 lakhs) people were killed either by COVID-19 directly or due to the pandemic’s impact on health systems and society.

    According to the report, there were 4.7 million Covid deaths in India, which is 10 times the official figures and almost a third of Covid deaths globally.

    India strongly objected to the use of mathematical models by the World Health Organization (WHO) for projecting excess mortality estimates linked to the coronavirus pandemic in view of the availability of authentic data, saying validity and robustness of the models used and methodology of data collection are questionable.

  • UNICEF and WHO warn of ‘perfect storm’ for spread of measles outbreaks among children

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: An increase in measles cases in January and February 2022 is a worrying sign of a heightened risk for the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases and could trigger larger outbreaks, particularly of measles affecting millions of children in 2022, warn WHO and UNICEF.

    Pandemic-related disruptions, increasing inequalities in access to vaccines and the diversion of resources from routine immunization are leaving too many children without protection against measles, the acute viral respiratory illness, and other vaccine-preventable diseases, they said.

    They further said as millions of people were displaced due to conflicts and crises including in Ukraine, Ethiopia, Somalia and Afghanistan, disruptions in routine immunization and Covid-19 vaccination services, lack of clean water and sanitation, and overcrowding had increased the risk of vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks.

    Almost 17,338 measles cases were reported worldwide in January and February 2022, compared to 9,665 during the first two months of 2021. Apart from its direct effect on the body, which can be lethal, the measles virus also weakens the immune system and makes a child more vulnerable to other infectious diseases like pneumonia and diarrhoea. Most cases occur in settings that have faced social and economic hardships due to Covid-19, conflict, or other crises, and have chronically weak health system infrastructure and insecurity.

    “Measles is more than a dangerous and potentially deadly disease. It is also an early indication that there are gaps in our global immunization coverage, which vulnerable children cannot afford,” said Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director.

    “It is encouraging that people in many communities are beginning to feel protected enough from Covid-19 to return to more social activities. But doing so in places where children are not receiving routine vaccination creates the perfect storm for the spread of a disease like measles.”

    As of April 2022, the agencies report 21 large and disruptive measles outbreaks around the world in the last 12 months. The figures are likely higher as the pandemic has disrupted surveillance systems globally, with potential underreporting.

    In 2020, 23 million children missed out on basic childhood vaccines through routine health services, the highest number since 2009 and 3.7 million more than in 2019.

    Countries with the largest measles outbreaks since the past year include Somalia, Yemen, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Ethiopia.

    “The Covid-19 pandemic has interrupted immunization services, health systems have been overwhelmed, and we are now seeing a resurgence of deadly diseases including measles. For many other diseases, the impact of these disruptions to immunization services will be felt for decades to come,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO.

    “Now is the moment to get essential immunization back on track and launch catch-up campaigns so that everybody can have access to these life-saving vaccines,” he said.

  • ‘Tulsi-bhai’: WHO chief Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus gets a Gujarati name from PM Narendra Modi

    By PTI

    GANDHINAGAR: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday gave a new name — ‘Tulsi-bhai’ — to Director-General of the World Health Organization Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus at his request. Dr Ghebreyesus reacted with a laughter when Modi gave him a Gujarati name during a summit here.

    The Tulsi plant (‘holy basil’ or Ocimum tenuiflorum) has been an integral part of India’s spiritual heritage, the prime minister said, speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the three-day Global Ayush Investment and Innovation Summit.

    Dr Ghebreyesus, who shared the dais with Modi, had tried to start his speech in Gujarati. Modi said Dr Ghebreyesus wanted a Gujarati name.

    “When he met me today morning, he said he has become a ‘pucca’ Gujarati. He asked me to give him a Gujarati name. He reminded me on the stage, whether I had decided on a name for him. In this pious land of Mahatma Gandhi, as a Gujarati, I would call my best friend (‘param mitra’) ‘Tulsibhai’,” the prime minister said.

    “Director General of WHO Dr Tedros has been a very good friend (‘achhe mitra) of mine. Whenever we meet, he would always say one thing, ‘whatever I am today Modi ji, is because of Indian teachers who taught me since childhood’. Indian teachers have played a very big role at important junctures in my life, and I am proud to be associated with India,” Modi quoted Dr Ghebreyesus as stating.

    Modi said that the holy basil is traditionally planted in every household in India and prayers are offered to it generation after generation. “Tulsi is a plant which is an integral part of India’s spiritual heritage,” the prime minister said, noting that there is also Tulsi Vivah festival around the time of Diwali. The ‘bhai’ suffix, he said, is a must for a Gujarati,” he said.

    He was especially happy calling Dr Ghebreyesus ‘Tulsibhai,’ and delighted by the latter’s affection for Gujarat, his attempt to speak in Gujarati and his affection for the Indian teachers who taught him in childhood, Modi added.

    Notably, while Modi and Dr Ghebreyesus shared bonhomie on stage, the Indian government last week took objection to the WHO’s methodology for estimating COVID-19 mortality in the country, saying that its mathematical modelling was unsuitable for a vast country like India.

  • India questions WHO’s methodology to estimate COVID-19 mortalities

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India on Saturday questioned the World Health Organisation’s methodology to estimate COVID-19 mortalities in the country, saying using such a mathematical modelling cannot be applied to estimate the death figures for such a vast nation of geographical size and population.

    The Union health ministry issued a statement in response to a New York Times article titled “India Is Stalling WHO’s Efforts to Make Global Covid Death Toll Public” dated April 16, saying the country has on several occasions shared its concerns with the global health body over the methodology used.

    India has been in regular and in-depth technical exchange with the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the issue.

    The analysis, which uses mortality figures directly obtained from Tier I set of countries, uses a mathematical modelling process for Tier II countries (which includes India), the ministry said.

    “India’s basic objection has not been with the result (whatever they might have been), but rather the methodology adopted for the same. The model gives two highly different sets of excess mortality estimates of when using the data from Tier I countries and when using unverified data from 18 Indian states. Such a wide variation in estimates raises concerns about validity and accuracy of such a modelling exercise,” the ministry said in the statement.

    According to the health ministry, India has shared its concerns with the methodology along with other member states through a series of formal communications, including six letters issued to WHO (on November 17, December 20, 2021; December 28, 2021; January 11, 2022; February 12, 2022; and March 2, 2022) and virtual meetings held on December 16, 2021, December 28, 2021, January 6, 2022, February 25, 2022 and the SEARO Regional Webinar held on February 10, 2022.

    During these exchanges, specific queries have been raised by India along with other member states — China, Iran, Bangladesh, Syria, Ethiopia and Egypt — regarding the methodology, and use of unofficial sets of data.

    The concern specifically includes on how the statistical model projects estimates for a country of geographical size and population of India and also fits in with other countries which have smaller population, the statement said.

    Such one size fit all approach and models which are true for smaller countries like Tunisia may not be applicable to India with a population of 1.3 billion.

    “WHO is yet to share the confidence interval for the present statistical model across various countries,” the statement said.

    “India has asserted that if the model is accurate and reliable, it should be authenticated by running it for all Tier I countries and if the result of such exercise may be shared with all member states,” it said.

    The model assumes an inverse relationship between monthly temperature and monthly average deaths, which does not have any scientific backing to establish such peculiar empirical relationship.

    India is a country of continental proportions, climatic and seasonal conditions vary vastly across different states and even within a state and therefore, all states have widely varied seasonal patterns.

    “Thus, estimating national level mortality based on these 18 states data is statistically unproven,” the statement stated.

    The Global Health Estimates (GHE) 2019 on which the modelling for Tier II countries is based, is itself an estimate.

    The present modelling exercise seems to be providing its own set of estimates based on another set of historic estimates, while disregarding the data available with the country, the statement said.

    “It is not clear as to why GHE 2019 has been used for estimating expected death figures for India, whereas for the Tier 1 countries, their own historical datasets were used when it has been repeatedly highlighted that India has a robust system of data collection and management,” it stated.

    In order to calculate the age-sex death distribution for India, WHO determined standard patterns for age and sex for the countries with reported data (61 countries) and then generalised them to the other countries (incl.India) who had no such distribution in their mortality data.

    Based on this approach, India’s age-sex distribution of predicted deaths was extrapolated based on the age-sex distribution of deaths reported by four countries (Costa Rica, Israel, Paraguay and Tunisia), the ministry said in the statement.

    Of the covariates used for analysis, a binary measure for income has been used instead of a more realistic graded variable. Using a binary variable for such an important measure may lend itself to amplifying the magnitude of the variable.

    WHO has conveyed that a combination of these variables was found to be most accurate for predicting excess mortality for a sample of 90 countries and 18 months (January 2020-June 2021).

    The detailed justification of how the combination of these variables is found to be most accurate is yet to be provided by WHO, the statement noted.

    “The test positivity rate for Covid in India was never uniform throughout the country at any point of time. But, this variation in Covid positivity rate within India was not considered for modelling purposes. Further, India has undertaken COVID-19 testing at a much faster rate than what WHO has advised. India has maintained molecular testing as preferred testing methods and used Rapid Antigen as screening purpose only. Whether these factors have been used in the model for India is still unanswered,” the statement stated.

    Containment involves a lot of subjective approach (such as school closing, workplace closing, cancelling of public events) to quantify itself.

    But, it is actually impossible to quantify various measures of containment in such a manner for a country like India, as the strictness of such measures have varied widely even among the states and districts of India.

    Therefore, the approach followed in this process is very much questionable.

    “In addition, subjective approach to quantify such measures will always involve a lot of biasness which will surely not present the real situation. WHO has also agreed about the subjective approach of this measure. However, it is still used,” the statement said.

    According to the statement, during interactions with WHO, it has also been highlighted that some fluctuations in official reporting of COVID-19 data from some of the Tier I countries, including the USA, Germany, France, defied knowledge of disease epidemiology.

    Further inclusion of a country like Iraq which is undergoing an extended complex emergency under Tier I countries raises doubts on WHO’s assessment in categorisation of countries as Tier I/II and its assertion on quality of mortality reporting from these countries.

    “While India has remained open to collaborate with WHO as data sets like these will be helpful from the policy making point of view, India believes that in-depth clarity on methodology and clear proof of its validity are crucial for policy makers to feel confident about any use of such data,” the statement said.

    “It is very surprising that while New York Times purportedly could obtain the alleged figures of excess COVID-19 mortality in respect to India, it was unable to learn the estimates for other countries!,” the statement added.

  • WHO’s supply suspension of Covaxin not to impact travel of people: MEA

    Arindam Bagchi said the issue was something to do with certain processes and manufacturer of Covaxin and the WHO are looking into the matter.