MUMBAI: Dr Subhash Salunkhe, an advisor to the Maharashtra government, has termed the ongoing viral activity in Amravati and Akola districts “extremely unusual” and the rise in cases “exponential”. The only upside till now, said Dr Salunkhe, is the spread appears to be in “isolated small pockets”.
State government health officials said genomic sequencing of four patients from Amravati showed “unique mutations”, including E484Q, which is similar to a mutation (E484K) found in South African and Brazilian variants. Four samples from Yavatmal, too, showed unique mutations, including the N440K that first emerged in the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.
State health officials played down the Amravati findings. A senior goverment official said the mutations found in the samples are not new to India. “There are over 240 mutations found so far in India. We don’t need to panic about this. Contact tracing and other public health measures will be taken,” he said.
State public health secretary Dr Pradeep Vyas said viruses mutate. “Over 5,000 types of mutations have been recorded worldwide,” he said.
Dr Samiran Panda, who heads the epidemiology division of ICMR, said it is closely watching the developments in Maharashtra. “There have been reports of lavish marriage parties and gatherings. The government needs to dissuade people from attending mass gatherings even while encouraging people to observe preventive measures,” added Dr Panda.
After a sudden surge in cases, health authorities from Amravati, Yavatmal and Akola were asked to send random samples for testing to Pune.
Experts at B J Medical confirmed they have found the E484Q mutation (although TOI has a copy of the report that states E484K, officials changed the nomenclature late on Thursday) in the strain isolated from the swab samples of four randomly selected patients in Amravati.
“These mutations should not be confused with mutations seen in the UK strain or the South African strain,” said senior microbiologist Dr Rajesh Karyakarte, professor and head of the microbiology department at B J Medical College in Pune.
The mutation located in the spike protein region helps the strain escape the existing neutralizing antibodies. This means the existing virus-specific antibodies seen in recovered patients cannot neutralize the strain with the E484K mutation. The mutation, experts say, is seen in various other countries.
Dr Rajkumar Chavan, divisional deputy director (health) for Akola division, which includes both Amravati and Yavatmal, said they have not officially received any such report about the new mutated strain so far. “We had been asked to send some random samples for genome sequencing to Pune after a sudden surge in Amravati, Yavatmal and Akola. Reports are yet to be received,” he said.
Most patients in Amravati and Yavatmal are being kept in institutional quarantine and those with very mild symptoms are being monitored strictly. There were some travellers in Amravati with a history of South Africa visits. Civil surgeon Dr Shyamsundar Nikam said they were contacted, tested, and close contacts are being traced.
In Yavatmal, civil surgeon Dr Tarangtushar Ware said the official report of genome sequencing has not been received yet. “Tracing and testing has been increased in Yavatmal.”
Experts have found N440K mutation in four Covid patients randomly selected from Yavatmal and it is being studied. “The strain found with E484Q mutation and N440K belongs to the Clade A2 lineage of SARS-CoV-2, prevalent in India and Brazil,” said senior microbiologist Dr Karyakarte. (With inputs from Umesh Ishalkar in Pune & Chaitanya Deshpande in Nagpur)