New COVID-19 mutant variant: Situation under careful watch says govt

New Delhi, Dec 30: At least seven returnees from the UK to India, including a 2 year old girl have tested positive for the mutant variant of the SARC CoV-2 virus, which is 70 per cent more transmissible.

Principal scientific adviser K Vijay Raghavan said most vaccines do target the spike protein and there are changes in the variants. But vaccines stimulate our immune system to produce a wide range of protective antibodies.

"All these passengers are being tracked and subjected by states and UTs to RT-PCR tests. So far, only 114 have been found positive. These positive samples have been sent to 10 genome sequencing labs. Six samples of UK returnees found to be positive with the new UK variant genome are in Bengaluru (3), CCMB Hyderabad (2) and NIV Pune (1), a statement by the health ministry read.

The ministry said that the situation is under careful watch and regular advice is being provided to the states for enhanced surveillance, containment, testing, dispatch of samples to INSACOG labs.

Raghavan said that the increased transmissibility of the UK variant is concerning. Of the 17 changes in the virus, 8 are in the spike protein and are important. One change, N501Y, increases affinity for the ACE2 receptor, used for viral entry into human cells. N501Y has been linked earlier to increased infectivity and transmission in animal models, Raghavan said.