MUMBAI: Nearly 50% of samples that have been positive for Covid-19 in the late state and sent for genome sequencing have the newly identified and highly infectious Indian variant of SARS-CoV-2 called B.1.617.
Most of these samples are from Vidarbha and no sample submitted from the city has so far shown variant B.1.617, according to scientists involved in INSACOG, a grouping of 10 national laboratories that perform complete genomic sequencing of samples.
He Ministry of Health of the Union so far it has not given specific details about the whole genome sequencing project. A communication on Friday said that as of Thursday, 13,614 whole genome sequencing samples had been processed at the 10 INSACOG laboratories.
“Of these, 1,189 samples have tested positive for the worrying variants of SARS COV-2 in India. These include 1,109 samples with UK variants; 79 samples with the South African variant and one sample with the Brazilian variant, “the ministry said in a statement.
Some information on the results of the samples sent from the state was handed over to the state Minister of Health, Rajesh Tope, in a virtual meeting with Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Saturday.
Tope said of the 1,100 samples submitted so far, 500 samples had been examined. “We have requested a detailed report from the central government, but we have been told that it will only be available at the end of the investigation,” he said.
The main concern in the state – and also in the rest of the world, because the Indian variant has already been isolated in several samples in the United Kingdom and the United States – is the high transmissibility of the variant. “Because the new variant is said to be highly infectious, we have asked the Center for a report and, if any, revised guidelines,” said Tope, who added that the Center only made a detailed report available to the Center. end of the investigation.
State Director of Health Services, Dr. Archana Patil he said he knew where the samples in question had been collected from. “Some samples show changes, but there is no comment on whether they explain this wave MaharashtraPatil said.
B.1.617 was first identified by scientists at the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) in Delhi as part of the INSACOG project. They observed two mutations, L452R and E484K, which are known to have the ability to escape antibodies.
Articles written by experts around the world have pointed out that the Indian variant could be “at least in part” driving the current wave that is dragging across the country. IGIB director Anurag Agrawal said nearly 15,000 positive samples of Covid-19 have been studied since December.
“Our team of scientists identified the variant that has since been christened B.1.617. In general, it is present in a small percentage of samples, but its presence has been growing in recent weeks,” he said. say Dr. Agrawal. Scientists from other countries had more details. “The new strain has been detected in at least five states in India, including Maharashtra, Delhi and Punjab, which have contributed to the increase in cases in the country, in addition to variants B.1.1.7 (United Kingdom), B.1.351 (South Africa) and P.1 (Brazil) which are also circulating (a) India “said William A. Haseltine, a former professor at Harvard Medical School, in an article in Forbes.
He wrote that although the extent of the strain spread was unknown, of the 2,844 sequences submitted to the GISAID database of India as of March 1, 162 sequences had been classified as B.1.617 , or about 6%. “That percentage is likely to grow,” he said.