Has Mutant Coronavirus Strain Entered India? Health Ministry Says, 'Yet To Be Established By Designated Lab'

It's incorrect to say that the new strain of the coronavirus has entered India until it's established by a designated laboratory, the Union Ministry of Health said.

PTI Image

Coronavirus Update:  The second Covid strain being identified in the UK has raised alarms in the entire world. The Indian government is also taking strict measures to prevent the spread of the new mutant virus but people in India have started to panic knowing that the new strain spread more rapidly compared to the previous one. In order to clarify the present situation and make people understand, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday that it's incorrect to say that the new strain of the coronavirus has entered India until it's established by a designated laboratory. To establish the presence of a mutant virus, it is necessary to establish a genome sequencing which could be done only through designated labs of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Department of Biotechnology, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and National Centre for Disease Control, the Ministry said in a statement. "Genome sequencing has not so far been done in respect of the 15 passengers of the 590 who landed in Mumbai from the UK on December 22. Therefore, it's incorrect to say that the new strain of the coronavirus has entered India until it is established by a designated laboratory." said the Ministry.

Not found anything related to UK strain so far: Health Secretary

The new strain is feared to be more infective and could 70% more transmissible, experts in UK said over the weekend, prompting over 40 nations – including India – to suspend flight operations. “It is just a precautionary measure. This strain has not been found in India,” confirmed Rajesh Bhushan, Union health secretary. According to Hindustan Times, Dr Samiran Panda, head, epidemiology and communicable diseases, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), also said, “We have not found anything related to the UK strain so far in any of our samples. Be it in our laboratory in the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune or any other laboratories across the country doing genome sequencing, there is no evidence of this mutation in our samples.” As part of epidemiological surveillance, India has been performing virus genome sequencing to follow mutations.

UK Detects Third Mutated Strain Of Coronavirus, This Time From South Africa

Britain on Wednesday announced travel restrictions on the backdrop of yet another variant of the novel virus - making it the third so far. Two cases of another new strain of COVID-19 linked to South Africa have been identified in the UK, Health Secretary Matt Hancock revealed on Wednesday. "Both [cases of the new variant] are contacts of cases who have travelled from South Africa over the past few weeks," Hancock told reporters in London. "This new variant is highly concerning because it is yet more transmissible and it appears to have mutated further than the new variant that has been discovered in the UK," he said. Also Watch|Vaccine works effectively against Corona's new variant, claims Moderna