Four cases of South African variant of COVID-19 detected in India: ICMR

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) confirmed on Tuesday that four cases with the South African variant of COVID-19 have been detected in the country.

The South African variant carries a mutation called N501Y that appears to make it more contagious or easy to spread, a report in The New York Times has said. The WHO had also said this variant “is less susceptible to antibody neutralisation” than previous variants.

South African researchers, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, believe the new strain is around 50 per cent more contagious than the previous variants.

The variant has become a major cause of worry for the scientists because of its unusually large number of mutations, especially in the spike protein, which the virus uses to gain entry into the cells within the human body, as per a report carried by The Indian Express.

Addressing a media briefing, ICMR DG Dr Balram Bhargava also said that a case of Brazilian variant of SARS-CoV-2 was detected in the first week of February. Bhargava also informed that as many as 187 people have tested positive for the UK variant in India.

The detection of the South African variant in the country is worrisome as the AstraZeneca vaccine, being produced in India by Serum Institute of India under the brand name Covishield, seems to offer only limited protection against mild disease caused by it, as per a report carried by NDTV.

AstraZeneca has said its vaccine appeared to offer only limited protection against mild disease caused by the South African variant, based on data from a study by South Africa's University of the Witwatersrand and Oxford University, as per the report.

South Africa has in fact asked the Serum Institute of India to take back one million COVID-19 vaccine doses the company had sent in early February, The Economic Times reported on Tuesday, a week after the country said it will put on hold use of AstraZeneca's shot in its vaccination program.

South Africa's health minister was quoted as saying that the government may sell doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine, after the country paused its rollout following a small clinical trial that showed it offered minimal protection against mild to moderate illness from the 501Y.V2 coronavirus variant dominant in the country.