N-440 K: India's new Coronavirus variant highly infectious called AP strain is 10 times more infectious

Hyderabad, May 04: The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) has discovered N440K variant, besides B1.617 and B1.618. First discovered in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, the variant is said to be at least 10 times more infectious, that might be responsible for creating havoc in Visakhapatnam and other parts of the State.

According to the scientists, the N440K variant Covid virus is mainly witnessed in southern states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, parts of Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.

"The N440k mutant variant has the ability to generate 10 times more virus articles than the A2a prototype strain which is in circulation worldwide. This ability to generate large amounts of infectious virus articles in a short time makes N440K variant distinctive compared to other prevailing viruses," revealed study by the CCMB scientists.

According to Dr. Rakesh Mishra, director of CCMB said that the ability of N440k mutant variant to generate large amounts of infectious virus articles within a short time period is very high.

The CCMB geneticists also explained that 50 per cent samples they collected from various centers have found to be having the N440K variant of virus. It is also revealed that this virus is spreading among a certain section of population and it is more localized compared to other variants.