Alarm in India for the new “double mutant variant” of SARS-CoV-2

In the midst of the second wave of the coronavirus, India on Wednesday reported the existence of a “double mutant variant” of SARS-CoV-2. They also reported other imported strains, in studies conducted in various states across the country.

In the past 24 hours, India has recorded 47,262 new cases and 275 deaths.

As reproduced by the Efe news agency, the Indian Consortium on SARS-CoV-2 Genomics (INSACOG), a group of ten national laboratories formed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has confirmed that this new mutation was detected, above all, in the western state of Maharashtra after several genome sequencing tests of the virus.

In the report, they explain: “Analysis of samples from Maharashtra revealed that compared to December 2020, there was an increase in the fraction of samples with the E484Q and L452R mutations.”

“These mutations were found in about 15 to 20 percent of the samples and do not correspond to any previously cataloged VOCs,” they added.

In the southern state of Kerala, they detected 2,032 samples of the N440K variant, which had already been detected in 16 other countries, including the United Kingdom, Denmark, Singapore, Japan and Australia.

This variant of SARS-CoV-2 was also found in 33% of samples analyzed in the state of Andhra Pradesh and in 53 of 104 tests in Telangana, both located in southern India.

In contrast, they detected in the 10,787 tests analyzed by INACOG, 736 cases of the British strain, 34 people infected with the South African variant and a sample of the Brazilian variant.

In the report, they point out that “although several disturbing strains and a new double mutant variant have been discovered in India, they have not been detected in sufficient quantities to establish or link the rapid increase in cases in some states”.

The total number of infections in India exceeds 11.7 million, making it the third country with the most confirmed positive results, only behind the United States and Brazil.