The SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant was first identified in the state of Maharashtra in late 2020 and spread throughout India, outcompeting pre-existing lineages including B.1.617.1 (Kappa) and B.1.1.7 (Alpha) 1 . In vitro, B.1.617.2 is 6-fold less sensitive to serum neutralising antibodies from recovered individuals, and 8-fold less sensitive to vaccine-elicited antibodies as compared to wild type (WT) Wuhan-1 bearing D614G. Serum neutralising titres against B.1.617.2 were lower in ChAdOx-1 versus BNT162b2 vaccinees. B.1.617.2 spike pseudotyped viruses exhibited compromised sensitivity to monoclonal antibodies against the receptor binding domain (RBD) and N-terminal domain (NTD). B.1.617.2 demonstrated higher replication efficiency in both airway organoid and human airway epithelial systems compared to B.1.1.7, associated with B.1.617.2 spike in a predominantly cleaved state compared to B.1.1.7. The B.1.617.2 spike protein was able to mediate highly efficient syncytium formation that was less sensitive to inhibition by neutralising antibody as compared to WT spike. Additionally we observed that B.1.617.2 had higher replication and spike mediated entry as compared to B.1.617.1, potentially explaining B.1.617.2 dominance. In an analysis of over 130 SARS-CoV-2 infected healthcare workers across three centres in India during a period of mixed lineage circulation, we observed reduced ChAdOx-1 vaccine effectiveness against B.1.617.2 relative to non-B.1.617.2, with the caveat of possible residual confounding. Compromised vaccine efficacy against the highly fit and immune evasive B.1.617.2 Delta variant warrants continued infection control measures in the post-vaccination era. India's first wave of SARS-CoV-2 infections in mid-2020 was relatively mild and was controlled by a nationwide lockdown. Since easing of restrictions, India has seen expansion in cases of COVID-19 since March

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Conservation of species and ecosystems is increasingly difficult because anthropogenic impacts are pervasive and accelerating. Under this rapid global change, maximizing conservation success requires a paradigm shift from maintaining ecosystems in idealized past states toward facilitating their adaptive and functional capacities, even as species ebb and flow individually. Developing effective strategies under this new paradigm will require deeper understanding of the long-term dynamics that govern ecosystem persistence and reconciliation of conflicts among approaches to conserving historical versus novel ecosystems. Integrating emerging information from conservation biology, paleobiology, and the Earth sciences is an important step forward on the path to success. Maintaining nature in all its aspects will also entail immediately addressing the overarching threats of growing human population, overconsumption, pollution, and climate change.

After escaping relatively unscathed during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, India witnessed a ferocious second COVID-19 wave, starting in March 2021 and accounting for about half of global cases by the first week of May. SARS-CoV-2 had spread widely throughout India in the first wave, with the third national serosurvey in January 2021 finding that 21.4% of adults and 25.3% of 10-to 17-year-old adolescents were seropositive (1). Delhi, the national capital, was not included in the national serosurvey but had undergone multiple periods of high transmission in 2020 (Fig. 1A). In a district-wise stratified serosurvey conducted by the Delhi Government in January 2021, overall seropositivity was reported to be 56.1% (95% CI, 55.5-56.8%), ranging from 49.1% to 62.2% across 11 districts (2). This was expected to confer some protection from future outbreaks.Despite high seropositivity, Delhi was amongst the most affected cities during the second wave. The rise in new cases was exceptionally rapid in April, going from approximately 2000 to 20,000 between 31 March and 16 April. This was accompanied by a rapid rise in hospitalizations and ICU admissions (Fig. 1B). In this emergency situation with saturated bed occupancy by 12 April, major private hospitals were declared by the state as full COVID care-only and senior medical students, including from alternative medicine branches, were pressed into service (3). Deaths rose proportionately (Fig. 1C) and the case-fatality ratio (CFR), estimated as the scaling factor between time-advanced cases and deaths (Fig. 1D), was stable (mean, SD; 1.9, 0.3%). Population spread of SARS-CoV-2 is underestimated by test positive cases alone (1, 2). To better understand the degree of spread and the factors leading to the unexpectedly severe outbreak, we used all available data including testing, sequencing, serosurveys, and serially followed cohorts.In the absence of finely resolved or serial data from national and state surveys, we focused on data for Delhi participants of a national serosurvey of Council of Scientific and