UK, South Africa, Brazilian Covid strain cases in India now at 242
- This comes as several states, most notably Maharashtra and Kerala, are see a worrying spike in new Covid-19 cases
With new cases of the UK, South African, and Brazilian strains of Covid-19 being detected in India, the total number of infections of the more contagious variants is now 242, the Central Government said on Thursday.
This comes as several states, most notably Maharashtra and Kerala, are see a worrying spike in new cases of coronavirus.
MORE FROM THIS SECTIONSee All
The Health Ministry had said in its last report on 1 March that there were 213 cases of the UK, South African, and Brazilian variants in the country.
Meanwhile, Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, whose Covid-19 candidate Covaxin is 81% effective in preventing Covid, can work against the UK variant of the virus.
The company said that "analysis from the National Institute of Virology indicates that vaccine-induced antibodies can neutralise the UK variant strains and other heterologous strains".
Balram Bhargava, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) chief, had said that existing coronavirus vaccines have the potential to neutralise the UK variant and experiments are on to assess the effectiveness of the vaccines against the South African and Brazilian variants.
The Centre had earlier said that people flying in from these countries may be tested more aggressively. A new set of travel guidelines had been issued after the highly infectious variants were detected in the country.
The new rules apply to all incoming international passengers except those from the UK, Europe and Middle East, the health ministry had informed.
TRENDING STORIESSee All
The new Covid-19 strains are more contagious and spread faster, and vaccines could be less effective on these patients, although there is no proof, according to the World Health Organisation.
All three variants have gone through changes to their spike protein, or the part of the virus which attaches to human cells, and they seem to be better at infecting cells, according to scientists.
The South African and Brazilian strains can more easily infect a person's lungs than the UK mutation, scientists have said.
India is seeing a sharp spike in daily new Covid-19 cases in the past couple of days with states like Kerala, Punjab and Maharashtra battling a huge spike.
Phase 2 of the Covid-19 vaccination began on Monday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi becoming the first beneficiary of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin.
The Centre hopes to vaccinate 30 crore people by August in the second phase of the vaccination drive.
India on Thursday saw a massive upsurge in its Covid-19 number as the country recorded 17,407 new cases. With this, the cumulative caseload has reached 1,11,39,516.
Click here to read the Mint ePaperMint is now on Telegram. Join Mint channel in your Telegram and stay updated with the latest business news.