All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, Director Dr Randeep Guleria on Thursday said that there is not much data available on the Delta plus variant to suggest that it is more infectious or has a higher mortality rate. However, he suggested that if we follow COVID appropriate behaviour and take the COVID-19 vaccination, we'll be safe against any of the emerging variants.
"There isn't much data on Delta plus variant to suggest it's more infectious, causing more deaths, or has developed significant immune escape mechanism. But if we follow COVID appropriate behaviour, we'll be safe against any of emerging variants," Guleria said.
The Delta Plus variant of the COVID-19 virus is a mutated form of the Delta variant of coronavirus, which caused the disastrous second wave of the pandemic in India.
The AIIMS Director also talked about the mixing of two different vaccines and stressed that more data needs to be analysed before trying a new vaccination strategy.
"More data is needed on mixing of doses, studies show that it may be effective and a little more side effects may be there. But we need more data before we can say that this is a policy that should be tried," Dr Guleria said.
On Doctor's Day, the AIIMS director also remembered the health care workers who lost their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr Randeep Guleria also raised the issue of violence against doctors and added that it is demoralising for the medical community.