Unique transmission mode of Covid-19 in India

-Husna, Amity University Kolkata

The detailed study of SARS-CoV2 transmission patterns in India has revealed that over 70% of those who contract Covid-19 don’t pass it on any further, while a minority act as super-spreaders.

The global study using the largest dataset of contacts, also shows that children play a major role in the transmission of the virus, and the most high-risk behaviour one could indulge in is shared travel nearby via public transport.

The full-contact tracing dataset from the beginning of the pandemic was conducted by researchers of the Washington-based Centre for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy. They had complete epidemiological information and laboratory results for 575,071 tested contacts of 84,965 confirmed cases. The study reveals five key factors of how the pandemic is playing out in India.

1. By super-spreading, which means that some proportion of people can transmit much more than other people, it doesn’t require an event. It could be a person who stays at home but has a greater opportunity to meet a large number of people, whom he or she then infects.
2.  Co-travellers in shared transport of six hours or longer has the highest risk. Nearly eight out of ten in such cases tested positive.
3.  Children play a significant role in spreading infections to each other and the elderly people thus transmitting the virus further.
4. India’s elderly have a surprisingly lower COVID mortality rate, unlike the US.

This could be on account of the survival effect where the people who attain very old age are in relatively better health and without comorbidities.

• In half of the cases, deaths are occurring worryingly fast, soon after testing positive which highlights the lack of access to care in India. People getting to government hospitals have to wait far longer to access care than in private hospitals, which could mean that poorer people face greater difficulty in access to early care.

Source: https://www.livemint.com/news/india/covid-19-spread-in-some-unique-ways-in-india-new-contact-tracing-data-shows-11601453112907.html

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