4 SA variant cases found, 1 with strain from Brazil
NEW DELHI: Four people who flew into India last month were infected with the South African variant of the Sars-CoV-2 virus, and another traveller was found infected with the Brazilian variant, the Union health ministry said on Tuesday, announcing the detection of the two mutations that scientists fear can make coronavirus vaccines less effective.
NEW DELHI: Four people who flew into India last month were infected with the South African variant of the Sars-CoV-2 virus, and another traveller was found infected with the Brazilian variant, the Union health ministry said on Tuesday, announcing the detection of the two mutations that scientists fear can make coronavirus vaccines less effective and trigger reinfections among people.
Authorities have carried out contact tracing for the five people, and no other person is found to have contracted the new variants till now, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said at the weekly government briefing on Covid-19 in the Capital. People returning from these countries will now be tested more aggressively, he added.“There are no direct flights from South Africa or Brazil, so the health ministry and the civil aviation ministry are in touch on the steps to be taken on the matter,” Bhushan said, while refusing to give details about which airport the five people arrived at or their location at present in order to protect their privacy.India now has all three of the coronavirus variants that are a global concern -- B.1.1.7, first discovered in the UK; B.1.351, which is now dominant in South Africa; and P.1, which has spread in Brazil. All three have a unique collection of mutations, two of which -- N501Y and E484K -- seem to make it spread more readily or cheat vaccine-immunity triggered by the virus predominant in the world. The UK variant carries the N501Y mutation, the Brazilian variant has the E484K mutation, and the South African variant has both. Bhushan indicated that genomic tests of all positive cases among people who arrive from Brazil and South Africa are likely to be carried out.
“We got genome sequencing done of all those who were found positive among those tested for the UK variant. This strategy worked significantly well, and most likely the same strategy we will apply for flights coming from South Africa and Brazil,” he said. But, he added, passengers from South Africa and Brazil do not take direct flights. “The traffic is largely routed from other sectors; for example, the Gulf sector. So, to have measures that can be put in place for passengers coming from these two countries, the Union health and civil aviation ministries are in constant touch and should come up with a solution soon,” he said.