News Analysis India

Tag: B.1.617

  • ‘Highly infectious double mutant B.1.617 found in one-third of all sequenced samples in India’

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: One third of all genome sequenced samples of SARS CoV-2 from India shows presence of B.1.617 lineage, which was first reported in Maharashtra, shows latest data collated by INSACOG, country’s genomics consortium.

    The latest data clearly shows that the lineage, which is now viewed as responsible for the surge in several countries, drove the second wave and now dominates with nearly 75% of all samples of Variant of Concerns (VoCs) recorded in the country.

    The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG), a consortium of top scientific institutions, state wise analysis of VOCs on May 28 shows that of the 21471 community samples sequenced, 11% were linked to B.1.1.7 while 31.9% were of B.1.617 lineage.

    ALSO READ | B.1.617 COVID-19 variant, first detected in India, now found in 53 countries: WHO

    Among these community sequenced samples, 9308 were VoCs – B.1.1.7, B.1.617 and B.1.351. Nearly 75% of these samples were B.1.617.

    State wise analysis of proportion of B.1.617 in sequenced community samples shows nearly half of the states reported this lineage as prime driver of Covid-19 cases. The highest percentage was found in UP (81.8), followed by Gujarat (77.4), Jharkhand (67), Tripura (50), Uttarakhand (53), Andhra Pradesh (47), Maharashtra (47) and Telangana (46).

    “The B1.1.7 lineage of SARS CoV-2 is declining in proportion across the Country in the last one and half months. The B.1.617 lineage of SARS CoV-2 has been first reported from Maharashtra but now seen in other states like West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Telangana. The current surge (second wave) in cases seen over the last two months in some states shows a correlation with the rise in the B1.617 lineage of SARS CoV-2,” said the consortium.

    B.1.617 lineage is further evolved into three sub lineages – B.1.617.1, B.1.617.2 and B.1.617.3 and early data shows B.1.617.2 has higher transmission advantages over the other two sub-lineages.

  • Government asks social media firms to remove contents referring to ‘Indian variant’ of COVID

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The government has asked social media companies to immediately remove any content from their platform that uses or refers to the term ‘Indian variant’ of coronavirus, to curb misinformation around COVID-19, sources said Friday.

    According to sources, the IT Ministry has written to all social media platforms asserting that the World Health Organization (WHO) has not associated the term “Indian Variant” with the B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus in any of its reports.

    The sources said that a notice has been issued in this regard on Friday by the IT Ministry, which states that a false statement is being circulated online that implies that an “Indian variant” of coronavirus is spreading across countries.

    The sources said the matter has already been clarified by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on May 12 through a press release.

    They added that social media platforms have been asked to “remove all the content that names, refers to, or implies ‘Indian variant’ of corona virus from your platform immediately”.

    Previously, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had issued advisories regarding curbing of false news/misinformation concerning coronavirus on social media platforms.

  • B.1.617 variant of SARS-CoV2 has sub-lineages; B.617.2 more infectious: Expert on COVID mutations in India

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The double mutant B.1.617 variant of SARS-CoV2 is further mutating and one of its sub-lineages, the B.1.617.2, reported in India, is more infectious than its parent and fast increasing its footprint, Rakesh Mishra, former Director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, said on Wednesday.

    He also said there is nothing called the “Singapore variant”, a term that has led to a war of words between the Centre and the AAP government after Singapore objected to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s tweet that a “new” coronavirus strain in the city-state is very dangerous for children.

    Singapore’s health ministry on Tuesday night said the strain that is prevalent in many of the COVID-19 cases in recent weeks is the B.1.617.2 variant, which was first detected in India.

    Amid criticism over Kejriwal’s Singapore COVID-19 variant remark, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Wednesday claimed there was a “different strain” of coronavirus spreading in that country.

    However, Mishra said B.1.617.2 has already been reported in India and is in the majority of the new cases in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

    Mishra is part of the INSACOG, a consortium of 10 institutes of the Centre, that is involved in the genome sequencing of coronavirus.

    Explaining about the sub-lineage, Mishra told PTI, “B.1.617 was the mutant which was increasing in some part of the country like Maharashtra, West Bengal, Karnataka and now gradually it has led to three sub-lineages (B.1) 617.1, 617.2 and 617.3.”

    ALSO READ | We are satisfied by Indian government’s clarification: Singapore envoy on Kejriwal’s comments

    “Among these three, B.1.617.2 is more infectious than B.1.617. That does not indicate a greater worry except the numbers are more and symptomatically. Otherwise, we have not seen any other difference. So this is now replacing others.” 

    He said the same thing is being observed in the UK where B.1.617 was found and the sub-lineage has started to take over.

    “This is the same thing we are seeing in Singapore. Most of the cases in Singapore are B.1.617 and a majority is B.1.617.2B.1.617. 2 sub-lineage is majority in the new cases in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh,” Mishra said.

    “Gradually it is increasing its footprint and it will be a major one replacing other variants,” he added.

    Another virologist, who did not want to be quoted, said the sub-lineage was first detected in India in December.

    Sujeet Singh, the Director of the National Centre for Disease Control, said in a webinar in April that in Maharashtra, the B.1.617 variant was found in over 50 per cent of samples in many cities while the UK variant was found in 28 per cent of samples in the second week of March.

    B.1.617, termed as a double mutant, has three new spike protein mutations.

    Two mutations E484Q and L452R are in the area important for antibody-based neutralisation.

    The third mutation P681R in B.1.617 along with the reversion of E484Q allows its sub-lineage to be more infectious.

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) has termed it as ‘Variant of Concern’.

    According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention of the US, B.1.617.1 and B.1.617.3 sub-lineages have two receptor binding domain mutations — L452R and E484Q.

    ALSO READ | Netizens in Singapore accuse Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal of ‘spreading misinformation’ on COVID-19, seek apology

    The former has seven spike mutation while the latter has 7-8.

    In case of B.1.617.3, it has 9-10 spike mutations and two receptor binding domain mutations — L452R and T478K.

    In case of all the three sub-lineage, it has the potential to reduced antibody efficacy and potentially reduced neutralisation by vaccine sera, which, however, remains to be established.

    On Tuesday, Kejriwal had tweeted, “The new form of coronavirus in Singapore is said to be very dangerous for children. It could reach Delhi in the form of a third wave. My appeal to the Central government: 1. Cancel all air services with Singapore with immediate effect 2. Work on vaccine alternatives for children on a priority basis.”

    Responding to Kejriwal’s tweet, Singapore’s health ministry on Tuesday night said: “There is no Singapore variant. The strain that is prevalent in many of the COVID-19 cases in recent weeks is the B. 1.617.2 variant, which originated in India.Phylogenetic testing has shown this B.1.617.2 variant to be associated with several clusters in Singapore,” it said in a statement.

  • Vaccinated people can be infected with highly infectious Indian mutant but without severe disease: Study

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: Indian double mutant B.1.617 was classified as variant of global concern (VOC) by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday. But a study by scientists from the UK and India shows that it has moderate antibody resistance and is unlikely to be a major immune escape variant though it has higher infectivity but low severity for vaccinated individuals.

    A paper ‘SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617 emergence and sensitivity to vaccine-elicited antibodies’ by experts at Cambridge University, the National Centre for Disease Control, Delhi and CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) show that vaccinated individuals can be infected with B.1.617, but without severe disease.

    The B.1.617 spike bearing L452R, E484Q, and P681R  has a modest ability to avoid neutralising antibodies elicited by vaccination. The fold reduction for the two mutations L452R and E484Q was no greater than the individual mutations alone, arguing against the use of the term ‘double mutant’, said the paper in pre-prints. 

    “First molecular insights into B.1.617 VOC by collaboration of INSACOG and Cambridge University. Only moderate antibody resistance but greater syncytium formation. Overall fits higher transmissibility, symptoms, but low severity in vaccinated,” said Anurag Agrawal, Director, IGIB.

    The loss of neutralisation of B.1.617 has likely contributed to an epidemic wave in India where background infection to the  Wuhan-1  D614G  in  2020  was between  20-50%. Despite in vitro data showing only a small loss of neutralisation against B.1.617 with the Covaxin vaccine, here we also show vaccine breakthrough in health care workers at a  single tertiary hospital who were fully vaccinated.    

    ALSO READ | Boost for India’s COVID fight as Sputnik V vaccine ready for rollout, will be available in private and government facilities

    “These infections were predominantly  B.1.617,  with a  mix of other lineages bearing  D614G in spike.  The dominance of B.1.617 could be explained by the prevalence  of  this  lineage  in  community  infection  or  simply  reflect  transmission  between  HCWs.  The data nonetheless raise the possibility of a  transmission advantage of B.1.617 in vaccinated individuals,” it said. 

    The experts say that vaccinated individuals can be infected with B.1.617, but without severe disease. The data go some way to explaining the dominance of this variant in a partially immune population, but highlight that vaccination is still protective for the majority of people.

    “It is unclear whether  B.1.617 variants will prove more transmissible than B.1.1.7,  also circulating in  India and now globally dominant. In the absence of published data on the transmissibility of  B.1.617 we predict that this variant will have a  transmission advantage relative to Wuhan-1 with  D614G  in individuals with pre-existing immunity from vaccines/natural infection as well as in settings where there is low vaccine coverage and low prior exposure,” it added. 

    The paper says that lower protection against  B.1.351, the variant with the least sensitivity to neutralising antibodies, has been demonstrated for at least three vaccines. 

    “However,  progression to severe disease and death was low in all studies. Therefore, at population scale, extensive vaccination will likely protect against moderate to severe disease and will reduce transmission of B.1.617 given the in vitro neutralisation data we and others have presented,” it further said.

  • Double mutant strain detected in patients who tested COVID positive at Dibrugarh airport

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: The double mutant strain has been detected in some passengers who tested COVID-19 positive at Assam’s Dibrugarh airport, Minister for Health and Family Welfare Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Thursday.

    Recent samples of passengers taken at the airport are “positive for B.1.617 strain or the Indian double mutant (L452R and E484Q) strain of SARS-COV-2,” he tweeted.

    The strain spreads “very fast and is extremely dangerous. I appeal to people to be very careful as there is no alternative to caution”, Sarma told reporters after attending an all-party meeting called by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.

    “In India, the UK and Californian strains have combined to form the double mutant strain and its birthplace is Maharashtra, from where it is spreading to other states,” he said.

    There are speculations in certain sections that vaccines might not work in positive cases with these strains, but these are to be verified, Sarma said.

    Earlier, the minister had claimed that the UK mutant strain has also been found in Assam.

    Meanwhile, the state government issued another SOP, stating that in districts with over 100 active cases, coaching institutes will function with 50 per cent capacity, while pregnant teaching/non-teaching staff and those with children below five years shall be exempted from attending schools and coaching institutes.

    Assam has reported 2,29,138 positive cases and 1,150 deaths so far.

    This development comes after as many as 385 passengers, who landed at the Silchar airport on Wednesday, created disorder and fled the facility to escape mandatory COVID-19 testing, officials said on Thursday, and asserted criminal action will be initiated against them.

    Cachar District Additional Deputy Commissioner (Health) Sumit Sattawan said a total of 690 passengers arrived at the airport from various parts of the country aboard six aircraft.

    He said they were supposed to undergo swab tests at the airport and the nearby Mahatma Gandhi Model Hospital in Tikal.

    Sattawan said hundreds of passengers created chaos at both places, mainly over payment of Rs 500 for the tests, the government-fixed rate.

    The Assam government has made it mandatory for all air passengers arriving in the state to undergo a free Rapid Antigen Test and an RT-PCR test for Rs 500 even if the report of the RAT comes negative.

    Asserting that the passengers had violated the rules, the officer said, “We have their database and will track them. We will initiate criminal action under Section 188 of the IPC (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and other relevant provisions.”

    The ADC later filed a complaint with the Cachar Superintendent of Police against the violators, seeking initiation of proceedings for flouting government orders and putting the society at risk during the pandemic.

    “A total of 385 passengers skipped mandatory testing at Silchar Airport,” he said in the complaint, containing the list of the violators with mobile phone numbers received from flight carriers.

    Of the 690 passengers, 189 were tested and six found infected with the virus.

    Many were exempted from testing as they were transit passengers on way to neighbouring states like Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura, Sattawan said.

    In a statement late on Thursday, Silchar airport director said the incident was not reported inside the airport and “no passenger escaped from security checks or from the designated area at the passenger terminal building”.

    “However, the matter was related to the screening of the arriving passengers by transporting them from outside the airport, through ASTC buses to the Mahatma Gandhi Model Hospital, Tikal (Salganga).

    There, both RAT and RT-PCR tests are being conducted by the district health department,” it added.

    Quoting Sattawan, the Airports Authority of India release said around 300 passengers moved out of the system without being tested, shouting at health department personnel.

    The district health officials and workers were caught off-guard as they didn’t anticipate “so much indiscipline” from flight passengers, AAI said.

    “Air passengers escaped from outside Silchar airport or the testing site rather than the airport,” it added.

    The Assam government had on Wednesday night announced that people coming from outside will have to undergo seven days of compulsory home quarantine, as the state’s COVID-19 tally shot up to 2,29,138 with 1,150 fatalities.