ICMR study on long COVID

Why in the News?

A recent study was conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on the post Covid-19 conditions and its report has been recently published.

• The WHO estimates that 10 to 20 per cent of Covid patients develop prolonged symptoms.

Key findings of the Study:

1. 1. Nearly 6.5% people hospitalised with Covid-19 died in the following year.
   2. About 17.1% of the participants experienced post-Covid-19 conditions.
      • The study defines “post Covid-19 conditions” as persistent or new onset of fatigue, breathlessness, or cognitive abnormalities.
   3. People were nearly three times more likely to die if they experienced these post-Covid-19 conditions.
   4. Even a single dose of the vaccine before the infection reduced the number of deaths in the one-year period by 60%.
   5. The factors that increased the risk of death following a Covid-19 infection later in the year were,
      • Comorbidity- people with one comorbid condition were more than 9 times likely to die during the year following the infection.
      • Age- people above the age of 60 years are 2.6 times more likely to die compared to other age groups and Children between the ages of 0 and 18 years were at a 5.6 times higher risk of death.
      • Gender- Men were 1.3 times more likely to die compared to women.
   6. Long Covid can happen even in people who have had mild Covid-19.

About:

Coronavirus:

1. The virus spreads mainly through close contact between people mainly through air transmission through small, liquid, virus-carrying particles that float through the air for longer periods of time and can be inhaled by others.
2. The virus transmission via contaminated surface contact is markedly less efficient than airborne transmission.
3. Biological changes in the virus can lead to mutations causing emergence of COVID-19 variants.
4. COVID‑19 vaccine was developed to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID‑19.
5. The vaccines were used in reducing the spread of COVID‑19 and reducing the severity and death caused by COVID‑19.
6. COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in India include:
   1. Covaxin of M/s Bharat Biotech for age group of 6-12 and 12-18 years
   2. Sputnik -V of M/s Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd.  (Importer)
   3. Sputnik -V of M/s Panacea Biotec Ltd
   4. Janssen - Johnson & Johnson (Importer)
   5. Janssen - M/s Biological E Limited
   6. ZyCoV-D of Zydus Cadila - age group >12 years
   7. Sputnik -V of M/s Hetero Biopharma Ltd 
   8. Corbevax of Biological E. Limited - age groups 5-12, >12 and >18 years
   1. Covovax of M/s Serum Institute of India - age groups >12 and >18 years
   10. Moderna - M/s Cipla (Importer)
   11. SPUTNIK Light of M/s Dr. Reddy’s Lab. Ltd. (Importer) 
   50. SPUTNIK Light of M/s Hetero Biopharma Ltd 
   1000. Lyophilized mRNA Vaccine for Injection (COVID-19) [HGCO-19] of M/s Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Limited
   14. BBV154 (iNCOVACC) - M/s Bharat Biotech