New Delhi: The B1.617 lineage of SARS CoV-2, a double variant (L452R +E484Q) seems to be the cause for the current surge in Covid19 cases over the last one and a half month across India.
Dr Surjeet Kumar Singh, director of the national centre for disease control (NCDC) Wednesday said that the B1.617 lineage of SARS CoV-2 has been seen in Maharashtra. “The current surge in cases seen over the last one and a half month in some states shows a correlation with the rise in the B1.617 lineage of SARS CoV-2,” said Dr Singh.
He informed that the B1.1.7 lineage of SARS CoV-2 (UK variant) is declining in proportion across the country in the last one and half month.
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Government statistics show that a total of 1527 B1.617 lineage has been found in 19 states across India with Maharashtra leading the list with 761 variants, followed by Karnataka 146 and Delhi 107.
Till date, as many as 1877 UK variants (B.1.1.7) have been found across India. This variant has been found largely in Punjab (9516), Delhi (482) and Telangana (192).
“The B.1.1.7 can increase 50 per cent transmission and severity,” said Dr Singh.
A total of 127 South African variants (B.1.351) has been found across India which can increase 50 per cent transmission and reduce antibody neutralization.
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“These have been detected by the Indian-SARS-CoV-2 genomic consortium (INSACOG) by genomic sequencing of passengers coming from abroad and community samples,” informed Dr Singh.
It may be mentioned here that INSACOG was jointly established by the Union Health Ministry and Department of Biotechnology in December last year to monitor the genomic variations in the SARS-CoV-2 for genomic, epidemiological and clinical correlation to assist public health response to the pandemic.
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