No major mutation in Covid-19 virus in India, confirms PMO

New Delhi, Oct 17: The Prime Minister's Office on Saturday confirmed that there is no major mutation of SARS-CoV-2 has been found in India till now.

"Two Pan India studies on the Genome of SARSCoV-2 (Covid-19 virus) in India conducted by ICMR and D/o Bio-Technology (DBT) suggest that the virus is genetically stable and there is no major mutation in the virus," said a statement from the prime minister's office.

Earlier, Union health minister Harsh Vardhan had said that the Indian Council of Medical Research has been conducting large-scale sequencing of nationally representative strains of SARS-CoV-2 virus collected for several months over different time periods.

He also said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has been conducting large-scale sequencing of nationally representative strains collected over a few months and detailed results on mutations of the virus will be available in early October.

Replying to queries during the 'Sunday Samvad' platform, Vardhan further said enough oxygen is being produced in the country and the health ministry is closely monitoring the situation.

He took the occasion to remind everyone that the ministry had dispatched oxygen concentrators to the rural parts of the country specifically to avert the logistic issues coming to light, a health ministry statement said.

The ICMR has been conducting large-scale sequencing of nationally representative strains of SARS-CoV-2 virus collected over the past several months over different time-points and detailed results on mutations and evolution of the virus will be available in early October, Vardhan said.