Four cases of South African strain of covid19 viruses detected in India

New Delhi: Four cases with the South African variant of coronavirus have been detected in the country, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) confirmed on Tuesday. stating that the country has detected four cases of the mutant strain. India has also reported one case of the Brazilian strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The South African (SA) variant of SARS-CoV-2 also known as B.1.351 emerged independently in South Africa. It was first reported in mid-December 2020. “The strain has multiple mutations, including in receptor binding domain of spike protein with the virus easily enters into the lung cells of human body. Majority of cases in SA are due to the variant strain and it has spread to 44 countries.

In India, the strain has been detected in four different SA returnees in January 2021– one each from Angola and Tanzania and two from South Africa,” said Dr Balram Bhargava, Director general, ICMR. The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia (INSACOG) is doing sentinel surveillance for early detection of variants of concern of SARS-CoV-2.

It also determines the circulating strains of SARS-CoV-2 in unusual events such as high mortality, super-spreader. “All travellers and contacts were tested and have been quarantined. The ICMR-National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune is attempting to isolate and culture the SA variant strain,” said the ICMR chief. India has also detected the Brazilian strain of the virus of P.1 lineage which emerged independently in Brazil in early January 2021 and it was attributed to increased cases in Brazil, particularly Manaus.

Bhargav said that mutations have been found in the receptor binding domain of the spike protein. It has an increased transmissibility and has spread to 15 countries. “A case of variant strain has been detected in India in a Brazil returnee in the first week of February 2021. The traveller and its contacts have been tested and quarantined. The Virus strain has been successfully isolated and cultured at ICMR-NIV, Pune,” said Bhargav.