New Delhi (NVI): A total of 400 people in India so far have been found infected with three mutant variants of COVID-19 first detected in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil, the Ministry of Health informed today.
The ministry also said that among the total infection, 158 cases were reported in the last two weeks.
On March 4, there were 242 cases for the different variants across the country, Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
Choubey also said that the three variants are believed to be more contagious or easier to catch. These three mutated variants also have the potential to re-infect people who have been previously infected with SARS-CoV-2.
“No case of re-infection by mutant variants of SARS-CoV-2 virus has been reported from India so far,” the minister added.
Notably, a genomic consortium of 10 regional laboratories with National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) as the apex laboratory has been established to perform genomic sequencing of the samples from positive patients and 5 per cent of the positive test samples from the community.
The variant of COVID-19 from the United Kingdom was first reported in India on December 29 last year among the six passengers who had returned from Britain.
-RJV
