771 variants of Covid-19 including 'double mutant variant' detected in 18 states: Centre
The Coronavirus pandemic, the most dreaded and deadly pandemic has been ringing the danger bells across the nation. The pandemic continues to create havoc even after a year of its outbreak.
As one more concern about the pandemic situation in the country, the Union Government made a shocking announcement that not less than 771 variants of the respiratory disease were detected.
The new strains of the pandemic include a new âdouble mutant variantâ of the coronavirus. The variants of the new pandemic were detected after examining over 10,000 samples.
As per the official statement issued by the Union Government, the researchers have tested 10,787 across the states and Union Territories. 736 out of these samples have UK strain of the pandemic, and 34 samples were positive for South African variant [B.1.351] and one sample was positive for the Brazilian variant [P.1].
The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) set up to monitor the genomic variations on a regular basis has found out that Maharashtra samples have the E484Q and L452R mutations. Compared to December last year, there has been a rise in mutations.What more concerning is that these mutations confer immune escape and makes way for the infection to spread rapidly.
However, the Government said that there is no proper evidence to prove that the new variants are behind the spike in fresh infections. More clarity will come after examining few more samples, the government said.
As one more concern about the pandemic situation in the country, the Union Government made a shocking announcement that not less than 771 variants of the respiratory disease were detected.
The new strains of the pandemic include a new âdouble mutant variantâ of the coronavirus. The variants of the new pandemic were detected after examining over 10,000 samples.
As per the official statement issued by the Union Government, the researchers have tested 10,787 across the states and Union Territories. 736 out of these samples have UK strain of the pandemic, and 34 samples were positive for South African variant [B.1.351] and one sample was positive for the Brazilian variant [P.1].
The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) set up to monitor the genomic variations on a regular basis has found out that Maharashtra samples have the E484Q and L452R mutations. Compared to December last year, there has been a rise in mutations.What more concerning is that these mutations confer immune escape and makes way for the infection to spread rapidly.
However, the Government said that there is no proper evidence to prove that the new variants are behind the spike in fresh infections. More clarity will come after examining few more samples, the government said.