More than 110 cases of highly contagious Indian Covid-19 variant confirmed

Latest research from the UK suggests people who have had the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine have lower antibody levels targeting the Delta variant than those against previously circulating variants in the UK.

The number of Covid-19 cases in Ireland involving the potentially more transmissible Indian (Delta) variant rose to 114 by May 22, according to the latest official figures.

Data collated by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) and National Virus Reference Laboratory (NVRL) shows that number of cases of the Indian or Delta Covid-19 variant increased from 89 to 114 in the third week of May.

The HSPC report also shows that 59% of cases involving the Indian variant were detected among people aged between 19-34 years of age.

The figures come as latest research from the UK suggests people who have had the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine have lower antibody levels targeting the India variant than those against previously circulating variants in the UK.

The research also suggests the levels of these antibodies are lower with increasing age and that levels decline over time.

The data, from the Francis Crick Institute and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) UCLH Biomedical Research Centre, found that after just one dose of the Pfizer jab, people are less likely to develop antibody levels against the Indian variant, as high as those seen against the previously dominant Kent variant also known as Alpha.

A study published this week in medical journal the Lancet also suggested there could be reduced vaccine efficacy associated with the variant.

The Indian variant is now the dominant strain in the UK, and may be carry a higher risk of hospitalisation.

Serious concern

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has said any new data on the Indian variant "has to be taken very seriously". 

Since mid-December, Irish health officials have sequenced the genetic material of 12,500 Covid samples as part of an ongoing surveillance programme to monitor new and emerging variants of concern here.

The indian variant was categorised by the World Health Organisation as a variant of concern on May 10.

The number of other variants of concern has remained unchanged since May 15 – there were 72 cases of the Beta variant (B1351), which originated in South Africa, and 28 cases of the Gamma variant (P1), which originated in Brazil, by May 22.

The Alpha variant (formerly known as B117), which originated in the UK, was the first VOC to be detected in Ireland in December and took hold during the third wave of infection to overtake the original strain of the virus, which originated in Wuhan in China.