Thread by @BiIndia

#COVID19vaccines will work against new #MutantStrains of the virus, according to Indian government

businessinsider.in/india/news/cov…

By @pabsgill

➡️India detected its first six cases of the new #COVID19 strain in UK returnees on December 29. According to the Indian government, this is not a cause for concern as far as vaccines as concerned.

➡️“There is no evidence that current vaccines will fail to protect against COVID-19 variants reported from the UK or South Africa,” said K Vijayraghavan, the principal scientific advisor to the Indian government.

➡️However, he maintained that the new strain of COVID-19 is more contagious than the classic virus and that people should not get complacent — else it could lead to more cases.

-However, the danger of the new variants being more contagious than their predecessors remains true. According to the British government’s assessment, the new mutant variant is 70% more transmissible.

➡️What makes the new strain of COVID-19 more deadly?

The new variant of COVID-19 detected in the UK has one major change that is a cause for concern — the N501Y code of the virus’ protein.

The same change has also been detected in the new strain of COVID-19 emerging in South Africa.

➡️What is India doing?

The Indian SARS-Cov-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) is testing and sequencing samples from international travellers entering India.

-“Given the widespread prevalence of the virus all of the world and the kinds of variants which have emerged — can also arise elsewhere,” said Vijayraghavan.

INSACOG is also conducting random sampling from those individuals...

...being admitted into the hospital due to #COVID19 and from the overall positive caseload.