“British”, “South African” and “Brazilian” strain of coronavirus and his version with a double mutation are responsible for the growth of diseases in India, the director of the National Center for Control of Diseases Applies Singh.
“In Punjab, we found that the British strain was the main option. In Maharashtra version B.1.617 (double mutation option) is more than 50%,” he said at a press conference.
Singh noted that the Delhi is growing as a “British” strain and B.1.617.
“The script is still unfolded, but we are seeing growth with 28% of samples with the” British “strain in the second week of March, up to 50% in the last week of March, and if we just try to relate the surge, which we are watching Delhi, I think it directly correlates with the type of option that we are watching, “said Singh.
He noted that although different strains are becoming increasingly common in various parts of India, in general their prevalence is small. When sequencing 13 thousand samples “British” strain was found in 11% of them, while the B.1.617 variant was detected in 7% of samples. South African version that reduces the efficiency of the coronavirus vaccine, was detected in less than 1% of the total number of samples, said Singh.
India is in second place in the world by the number of cases identified cases of coronavirus. According to the latest data of the Ministry of Health, over 16.9 million cases of COVID-19 are registered in the country. More than 14 million people recovered, died from coronavirus and concomitant diseases of 192 thousand people. The increase in the number of cases in India continues from mid-February, the number of treated from COVID-19 has grown to more than 2.68 million people.