No major mutation in Covid-19 virus in India, confirms PMO

Based on two pan-India research on Covid-19 virus genome, the Prime Minister’s Office on Saturday confirmed that there isn’t any main mutation within the virus in India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a gathering on the Covid-19 pandemic scenario and vaccine supply, distribution and administration.

Earlier, Union well being minister Harsh Vardhan had mentioned that the Indian Council of Medical Research has been conducting large-scale sequencing of nationally consultant strains of SARS-CoV-2 virus collected for a number of months over completely different time intervals.

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The minister had mentioned there was no vital or drastic mutation within the strains.

Reports mentioned about 12,000 mutations have been documented in over 3.2 crore circumstances globally. Mutation is evolution that the virus goes by means of to adapt to varied limitations.

A latest research has revealed that mutation is the explanation why Covid-19 loss of life charges are completely different in varied states. An worldwide group, led by researchers at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in Uttar Pradesh, analysed mutations within the gene accountable for the expression of the Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2), a protein on the floor of cells which is believed to behave as a gateway for the novel coronavirus into the human physique.

Their spatial evaluation confirmed that in India, frequency of this haplotype, or a mix of mutations, diversified between 33-100 per cent throughout completely different areas.

The researchers, for the primary time, additionally ascertained a big positive correlation for the mutation with the decrease an infection and case-fatality ratio (CFR) amongst Indian populations.

“If in a region more people with this haplotype will be present, the infectiousness of the virus would likely be lesser,” Professor Chaubey, who led the research, informed information company PTI. For instance, he famous that state-wise Maharashtra and Gujarat have the bottom frequency of the gene mutation of about 30-40 per cent whereas the Northeastern area with a 75-100 per cent mutation within the gene has the very best frequency.

(With PTI inputs)