There is absolutely no truth in some reports that a sub-strain of coronavirus is sweeping and spreading faster across Telangana, clarified CSIR-CCMB director Rakesh Mishra on Wednesday.
“The coronavirus ‘A2a’ clade or strain is predominant and is all over the world. It is nothing “stronger or faster” when compared to A3i, which was a weaker clade. It is just that the A2a clade is doing ‘better’ being the only major clade at present and there is ‘nothing new’,” he added.
As things stand now, there is nothing to be “alarmed” about the mutations to the COVID-19 virus as these are adhering to the way viruses usually behave. With regard to the “re-infection” reported among a few individuals in the country and abroad, Dr. Mishra said these cases have to be investigated thoroughly through genome sequencing before broad conclusions can be arrived at.
“Usually after an infection happens, the human body starts producing antibodies and when the second attack happens, the body’s immune system remembers the parasite organism and takes care to fight. But why this has not happened in these cases as the individuals did not trigger the immune system for some reason has to be studied. Is it because the virus has changed so much that it could infect again in an entirely new ‘avatar’ or is it that the particular person's immunity has not been strong enough and there is some deficiency? We have to check these aspects,” he pointed out.
Genome of the virus of these suspected cases of “reinfection” should be sequenced before and after to understand it better, observed the CCMB director. For the moment, however, it is “not a serious problem” with regard to COVID-19 current mutations and this should make the scientists involved in vaccine research and drugs to continue with their current research methodology, he added.