Coronavirus Briefing Newsletter – Times of India


India on Thursday reported 19,893 Covid cases and 53 fatalities. The cumulative caseload is 4,40,87,037 (1,36,478 active cases) and 5,26,530 fatalities Worldwide: Over 580 million cases and over 6.40 million fatalities. Vaccination in India: Over 2.05 billion doses. Worldwide: Over 11.98 billion doses.

TODAY’S TAKE
Proof that wearing face masks protects against Covid-19

The pandemic is going nowhere, yet face masks are becoming less ubiquitous around us these days. If you are among the people who have junked the mask, and need affirmation that they actually work (and not just in giving you maskne and breathing trouble), here’s proof. In a recent study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, researchers in the US analysed the efficiency of masks in curbing SARS-CoV-2 transmission through a systematic review of past studies. The study: After sifting through 1,732 research articles, the team zeroed in on 13 studies, which collectively analyses 1,539 subjects, including four community-based and nine healthcare-based studies. Among these, 143 subjects had SARS-CoV-2 infections, including 97 who did and 146 who did not wear face masks. The findings: The researchers found that the probability of contracting the infection was 7% for mask wearers and 52% for non-mask wearers. The relative risk of getting infected by SARS-CoV-2 was 0.13 for mask wearers. In the healthcare setting, 9% of the mask wearers and 33% of the non-mask wearers tested Covid positive. On the other hand, in community settings, the team noted that 6% of mask wearers and 83% of non-maks wearers tested SARS-CoV-2 positive. The relative risk of catching the bug in this setting was 0.08 for mask wearers. The results show a strong association between using a facemask and staying protected since over 92% of the subjects who wore a mask did not test positive. But only half the subjects who shunned the mask successfully evaded the virus. Implications: Don’t give up the mask yet. As long as the virus continues to spread, mutations will continue to happen and the pandemic will linger on.

TELL ME ONE THING
The reason why Covid-19 is milder on kids compared to adults

Children typically experience more mild symptoms of Covid-19 when compared to adults. Till Omicron spawned, kids had also been less susceptible to the virus. Researchers from the University of Queensland, Australia, have now zeroed in on the reason behind this, but worryingly point out that the natural advantage may be waning as the virus evolves. To further understand the innate immune response in kids, the researchers decided to build on existing scientific evidence suggesting that nasal epithelial cells (NECs), the first site of infection, are fundamentally different in children compared to adults. The team obtained NEC samples from 23 healthy children aged 2-11 and 15 healthy adults aged 19-66 in Australia. They exposed all samples to SARS-CoV-2 and then observed the infection kinetics and antiviral responses in children compared to adults. “Data presented here strongly suggest that the nasal epithelium of children is distinct and that it may afford children some level of protection from ancestral SARS-CoV-2 [the original strain], although such age-dependent differences become less pronounced in the case of Omicron infection,” reads the study reported in PLOS Biology journal. The researchers also report that Omicron reproduced itself more efficiently in childrens’ nasal-lining cells compared to both Delta and the original virus. “These data are consistent with the increased number of paediatric infections observed during the Omicron wave,” the researchers claim, while calling for additional studies.