CSIR-CCMB working on improving diagnostic methods to check for Omicron variant

Vaccines do provide protection and the focus in our country should be on vaccinating the remaining 22% population with double dosage, says Director Vinay Kumar Nandicoori

CSIR-CCMB Director Dr. Vinay Kumar Nandicoori (right) at the institute in Hyderabad.

Council Of Scientific And Industrial Research–Centre For Cellular And Molecular Biology (CSIR-CCMB) is working on specific primers for improving the current Covid testing methods like the RT-PCR where the emerging Omicran variant can be identified. “We are working on a few sets of primers, but we have to test them extensively and validate them, before we can put them out so that a positive patient can know if it is the current dominant Delta variant or the new Omicron,” said Director Dr. Vinay Kumar Nandicoori.

“As per the data available, Delta is still dominant across the country. Whether Omicron will replace it, we will see in the coming days. We should know that in South Africa where it was first detected, the Delta wave was waning when this new variant took over, which shows better infectivity and naturally the unvaccinated are prone to get infections than others,” he explained.

In an exclusive interaction, Dr. Nandicoori emphasised that vaccines do provide protection and the focus in our country should be on vaccinating the remaining 22% population with double dosage. “There are going to be fatalities among the double vaccinated also but the numbers are much less when compared to those unvaccinated. I would urge people not to get alarmed and follow Covid protocols. Panic is not going to work but precautions would,” he asserted.

The top scientist said, while the immune escape ability of Omicron is higher, its severity and pathogenicity appear to be lower compared with the Delta, which also had immune escape features. “There is alarm because of the 32-37 mutations on the spike protein alone and some are already known to escape the immune response,” he said.

Studies, thus far, have shown existing antibodies due to prior infection to vaccines offer lower protection for Omicron when compared to Delta, but it is not as if the “immunity is non-existent”. “The response will vary from patient to patient depending on many parameters, however, we should know that in addition to B-mediated immunity, which produces the antibodies, we also have T-Cell immunity. Current knowledge suggests there is still some protective cover,” he explained.

While he does not want to ‘speculate’ on how Omicron infection could pan out, the Director points to the United Kingdom example where the first round of infections led to several deaths and when Delta ravaged, the fatalities were not that high. “It shows vaccines do protect from severity and this is different from testing positive due to symptoms on getting infected. We should be looking into how many were hospitalised and deaths,” he pointed out.

India, having experienced the worst second ‘Delta’ wave, with significant vaccination status among the population and hybrid immunity considering 70-90% population are ‘sero-positive’ — infected or vaccinated or both infected and vaccinated, there is some ground for hope. “But, it is an emerging thing and too soon to say anything even if the South African experience shows the hospitals and deaths are lower. We will have a lot more information in a few days' time,” he said.

Apart from increasing testing, more genome sequencing from cases among the general population will give a picture if a wave is coming in, added Dr. Nandicoori.