Hyderabad: After the detection of the first few cases in India with the new Covid-19 UK strain, the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Research (CCMB) in Hyderabad has said there could be a “large number of UK variant positive cases” in the coming days.
CCMB director Rakesh Mishra told ThePrint there is a good chance that India might “make our own variant sooner or later” as the country has the second largest population infected with the virus.
The CCMB is one of the 10 labs, which is conducting genome sequencing of the Covid-positive samples of UK returnees.
The Union Ministry of Health Affairs Wednesday said 20 samples were found to be positive with the UK Covid variant.
Seven samples in Bengaluru, two in CCMB, eight in National Centre for Disease Control, Delhi, and one sample each in National Institute of Virology, Pune, in National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, West Bengal, and CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Delhi, were found positive.
According to a statement from the health ministry Tuesday, all the patients have been kept in single-room isolation in “designated healthcare facilities by respective state governments”, and their close contacts put under quarantine.
The new Covid variant has sparked fears since experts consider it to be 70 per cent more transmissible than the previous strain.
In an interview, Mishra told ThePrint the new variant can infect double the people at the same time as the virus multiplies easily. This is because the virus catches the surface of the epithelial cells and enters the cells more efficiently, he added.
Mishra said India could see a spread of the new strain of the virus up to the secondary and territory levels as the country has not been able to trace all the UK returnees yet.
While the health ministry’s statement said two samples from the CCMB had the new variant, Mishra said three samples were found positive with the UK Covid strain — two from Telangana and one from Andhra Pradesh.
“To be very honest, I am surprised that only three samples have the new UK variant. In the UK, the spread is almost 60 per cent. By that count, we should have had at least 10 samples with the similar variant here with us,” he said.
“Certainly, hundreds of them have come from the UK. We are going to have a large number (of cases with the UK variant). It will be something like 50 or 100 from the beginning itself as they may have interacted (with people) and we will see the secondary, territory spread,” he added.
Of the mutations in the genetic material of the new variant, eight of them affect its spike protein, which expresses on its outer surface, and binds to the ACE receptors in the host cells, said Mishra.
One of the mutations is believed to enhance the binding between the virus and the receptors, thus, facilitating its entry into the host cells, according to a CCMB statement issued Tuesday.
The CCMB also found that the people infected with the new variant make more number of viral particles, which means they are shedding more — contributing to a faster spread, said Mishra.
Also read: India noticed ‘super-spreading’ Covid strain in March-May but it died on its own, expert says
‘Anyone coming from outside should be checked’
From 25 November to 23 December, nearly 33,000 passengers disembarked at various Indian airports from the UK, the health ministry said Tuesday. All the passengers are being tracked and subjected to RT-PCR tests by states, it added.
Mishra said considering that other countries such as Australia, Denmark, South Africa, Brazil have also reported presence of the UK strain, not just the UK returnees, but people coming from any other country to India should be treated the same way — screened, put under quarantine and should also be tested to see if they are carrying the new variant.
“Everybody who is coming from abroad should be treated and checked. Someone coming from South Africa or Kenya could be coming from the UK or may have exposed themselves to someone like that. So, the spread is such that anyone coming from outside should be checked very carefully and check if there is a new variant,” Mishra said.
The health ministry Tuesday said all symptomatic Covid-positive international passengers who have arrived in India during the last 14 days — 9-22 December — will be subjected to genome sequencing.
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri Wednesday announced that suspension of flights to and from the UK would be extended till 7 January 2021. The earlier suspension was until the end of this year.
Decision has been taken to extend the temporary suspension of flights to & from the UK till 7 January 2021.
Thereafter strictly regulated resumption will take place for which details will be announced shortly.
— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) December 30, 2020
Also read: Mutation N501Y — threats, myths and reality of UK’s new coronavirus strain
New variant not more dangerous in terms of death
Stating that no additional mutation was found in the sequenced samples other than the UK variant, Mishra said the new strain is not more dangerous in terms of death as the mortality factor and symptoms are similar to the previous variant.
It is also possible that it behaves similar with vaccines as other variants, he said.
“As we see a difference in mutation, which will translate to a difference in protein, it does not look like any big problem with the ongoing vaccine programme,” he added.
According to Mishra, it is extremely important to launch an extensive “genome surveillance” of the virus to assess the extent of the spread of the new virus.
India needs to keep an eye out for own ‘emerging variants’
Stressing on how crucial it is to keep looking out for the possibility of a variant emerging in the country itself, Mishra said there is a “great chance” of such a scenario considering the presence of lakhs of infected people giving a “field day to the virus”.
“India houses the second largest population infected with the virus, which means there is a good chance that we might make our own variant sooner or later. And that gets accelerated if more people are continuously getting infected and giving a field day to the virus, we have to stop it by all means,” he said.
Mishra added that there is a need for extreme caution in the next six months to one year. Monitoring the infections in cities and villages, coupled with genome surveillance, would help identify the new variant, if any, he added.
“Cannot say the consequences if we have our own new variant — maybe it will be good or problematic and start reinfection,” he said.
Also read: New Covid strain not seen in India yet, won’t impact potential of vaccines, govt says