Coronavirus undergoes 2 mutations per month, no need to panic: Director of AIIMS

New Delhi, Dec 26: Commenting on the new coronavirus strain detected in the UK, Director of AIIMS Delhi Randeep Guleria on Friday said that there is no need to panic as coronavirus undergoes several mutations at an average of two per month.

"Mutations have not led to any change in symptoms," he added. Vaccines in trial phase should be effective against the new strain, Guleria stated.

The AIIMS director, however, stated that the UK strain was more infectious, and following this the authorities red-flagged it solely.

Earlier, VK Paul, a top COVID-19 adviser to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had said that the new more transmissible strain of the coronavirus detected in Britain has not yet been found in India.

"It is also being said that in these viruses, the transmissibility has increased by 70 per cent, you can also call them super spreader in a way but it does not increase the propensity of death, hospitalisation and severity of the disease. What is affected is tendency to affect more people that by itself is a cause of concern," Guleria said.

On December 19, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned of the mutant virus strain which has quickly spread across London and the southeast of England.

By the week ending December 9, the new variant accounted for 62 per cent in London, 59 per cent in eastern England, and 43 per cent in the South East.