News Analysis India

Tag: virus strain

  • India detects novel variant of coronavirus in 18 states

    By Online Desk
    A new possible ‘double mutant variant’ of coronavirus has been detected in 18 states of India, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

    “Though VOCs and a new double mutant variant have been found in India, these have not been detected in numbers sufficient to either establish or direct relationship or explain the rapid increase in cases in some states. Genomic sequencing and epidemiological studies are continuing to further analyse the situation,” the ministry’s press release said.

    The ministry, however, said it could not be sufficiently established yet if these variants were behind the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in some states.

    #Unite2FightCoronaGenome Sequencing by INSACOG shows variants of concern and a Novel variant in India.https://t.co/hs3yAErWJR pic.twitter.com/STHjcMnkMh
    — Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) March 24, 2021

    India recorded 47,262 fresh coronavirus cases in a day, the highest single-day rise so far this year, taking the nationwide COVID-19 tally to 1,17,34,058.

  • Two COVID-19 variants detected in Maharashtra, Kerala: Govt

    NITI Aayog Member VK Paul said that 187 people have tested positive for the UK strain of SARS-CoV-2 in the country so far.

  • No new case of UK variant of coronavirus in Maharashtra, says Minister

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Tuesday said there has been no new case of the UK variant of coronavirus in the state, after a spurt in such cases in the last couple of months.

    Talking to reporters here, Tope said people need to avoid crowding in public places, and the demand for relaxing the timings of local trains for the general public in Mumbai will be discussed in the state cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

    He said some weeks back, the state government had identified cases of the UK variant of COVID-19, but all the infected persons were tracked and treated properly.

    “They were kept under strict institutional quarantine. Since then, no new case (of the UK variant of COVID-19) has been found in the state,” the minister said.

    To a question on the demand for relaxing the local train timings for the general public, Tope said preventing crowds at stations is still the priority.

    At present, the general public is allowed to travel in the suburban trains from the time of start of services for the day till 7 am, from 12 noon to 4 pm, and from 9 pm till the closure of services for the day.

    From 7 am to 12 noon and from 4 pm to 9 pm, only employees of the essential services and categories of commuters specified by the Maharashtra government and the Ministry of Railways are permitted to travel in local trains.

    Tope said, “We need to avoid crowding at public places to control the spread of the virus.

    ” However, this issue (of relaxing local train timings) is going to be discussed with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray during the cabinet meeting scheduled on Wednesday, he said.

    “We will assess all aspects of the issue and take an appropriate decision,” he added.

  • 150 people infected with UK variant of COVID-19 in India, says Govt

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The number of people who have tested positive for the UK variant of COVID-19 in India has climbed to 150, the Union Health Ministry said on Saturday.

    All of them have been kept in single room isolation in designated health care facilities by the respective state governments, the ministry had said earlier.

    Their close contacts have also been put under quarantine. Comprehensive contact tracing has been initiated for co-travellers, family contacts and others.

    READ| New coronavirus variant may be more deadly, says UK chief scientist

    Genome sequencing on other specimens is going on, the ministry said.

    The situation is under careful watch and regular advice is being provided to the states for enhanced surveillance, containment, testing and dispatch of samples to INSACOG (Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium) labs.

    “The total number of persons found infected with the UK strain of COVID-19 is 150,” the ministry said.

    The presence of the new UK variant has already been reported by several countries, including Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore.

  • COVID-19: 15 states, UTs have positivity rate below national average

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI:  A total of 15 states and Union Territories have a cumulative COVID-19 positivity rate below the national average of 5.79 per cent with Bihar having the lowest positivity rate of 1.44 per cent, the Health Ministry said on Saturday.

    Over 18 crore total COVID-19 tests have been conducted in the country till date with over 9 lakh tests in the past 24 hours alone, the Health ministry said in a statement around noon.

    It said India’s Tests per Million (TPM) stand at 1,30,618.3. “With the increase in testing infrastructure, the TPM has also increased exponentially.

    ” The Health ministry said 15 states and UTs have a positivity rate less than the national average with Bihar having the lowest positivity rate at 1.44 per cent.

    READ| RT-PCR test compulsory for air travellers both in UK, India

    The 15 states and UTs are Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Mizoram, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Daman and Diu, Assam, Punjab, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Odisha, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya and Jammu and Kashmir.

    The ministry said progressive countrywide expansion in testing infrastructure has played a crucial role in the steep rise of testing numbers.

    “With 2,316 testing labs in the country including 1201 government laboratories and 1115 private laboratories, the daily testing capacity has got a substantial boost,” it said.

    “India has demonstrated an exponential increase in the number of COVID-19 cumulative tests.

    It has crossed the landmark of 18 crore (18,02,53,315) total tests today. 9,16,951 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours,” the Health ministry said.

    It said high level of comprehensive testing on a sustained basis has also resulted in bringing down the national positivity rate.

    “The cumulative rate continues to decline as total tests cross 18 crore.  The national cumulative positivity rate is 5.79 per cent today. It has reduced from 8.93 per cent to 5.79 per cent in a span of five months,” the ministry said.

    The ministry said 22 States/UTs have better tests per million population than the national average.

    “Thirteen States and UTs have lower tests per million population compared to the national figure, indicating the need for higher testing in these regions,” it said.

    The third massive countrywide mock drill conducted on Friday for checking the readiness of all preparations and simulating a seamless and glitch-free vaccine administration, covered 4,895 session sites across 615 districts in 33 States/UTs, the ministry said.

    India’s COVID-19 tally of cases climbed to 1,04,31,639 with 18,222 new infections reported in a day, while 1,00,56,651 people have recuperated so far pushing the national recovery rate to 96.41 per cent as on Saturday, according to Union Health Ministry data.

  • New UK strain coronavirus cases go up to 90 in India

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The number of people infected with the new UK-linked variant of coronavirus has gone up to 90 in India, the Union Health Ministry said on Saturday.

    These 90 cases include the 82 announced by the ministry till Friday. “The total number of cases infected with the new strain of the novel coronavirus, first reported in the UK, now stands at 90,” the ministry said.

    All these persons have been kept in single-room isolation in designated healthcare facilities by respective state governments, the ministry had earlier said.

    Their close contacts have also been put under quarantine. Comprehensive contact tracing has been initiated for co-travellers, family contacts and others, while genome sequencing on other specimens is going on, the ministry said.

    The situation is under careful watch and regular advice is being provided to states for enhanced surveillance, containment, testing and dispatch of samples to designated labs.

    The presence of the new UK-variant has already been reported by several countries including Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore.

  • Twenty more people in India test positive for UK strain of COVID-19, tally at 58

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Twenty more people have tested positive for the new UK variant of SARS-CoV-2, taking the total number of such cases in the country to 58.

    The new cases have been identified at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune.

    “The total number of cases infected with the new strain of the novel coronavirus first reported in the UK now stands at 58,” the Union Health Ministry said.

    All these persons have been kept in single room isolation in designated Health Care facilities by respective state governments.

    Their close contacts have also been put under quarantine. Comprehensive contact tracing has been initiated for co-travellers, family contacts and others. Genome sequencing on other specimens is going on, the ministry said.

    The situation is under careful watch and regular advice is being provided to the States for enhanced surveillance, containment, testing and dispatch of samples to INSACOG labs.

    Of the 58, the mutated UK strain was detected in eight samples at National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), New Delhi, 11 in the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi, in one in  National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG), Kalyani (near Kolkata), 25 in the National Institute of Virology in Pune, three in Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad and ten was sequenced in National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences Hospital (NIMHANS)Bengaluru.

    The INSACOG labs at NCBS InSTEM, Bengaluru, CDFD Hyderabad, ILS Bhubaneswar, and NCCS Pune have so far found no mutant virus.

    The new UK variant has already been reported by several countries including Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore.

    The Government of India took cognizance of the reports of virus reported from the UK and put in place a proactive and preventive strategy to detect and contain the mutant variant, it said.

    This strategy includes temporary suspension of all flights coming from  the UK with effect from the midnight of December 23 till January 7 and mandatory testing of all UK-returned air passengers through RT-PCR test.

    The samples of all UK returnees found positive in RT-PCR test will be genome sequenced by a consortium of 10 government labs i.e. INSACOG.

    Further, all the international passengers who have arrived in India between December 9 and 22, if symptomatic and tested positive for COVID-19 will be subjected to genome sequencing as part of the Centre’s strategy to detect the mutated UK variant in them.

    Others will be followed up by the respective state and district surveillance officers and will be tested as per the ICMR guidelines (even if asymptomatic) between 5th and 10th day, according to the Union Health Ministry’s guidance document on genomic sequencing.

    Further, epidemiological surveillance of the passengers, who have arrived in India since November 23 will be conducted in the community through active follow up.

    Besides, standard operating protocol for states and UTs to tackle the mutant variant of SARS-CoV-2 was issued on December 22.