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Coronavirus new variant detected in in India along with new double mutant strain, says Health Ministry

Of the total 771 variants of concerns, 736 samples have tested positive for viruses of the UK lineage, 34 of the South African lineage, and one of the Brazilian lineage.

Coronavirus new variant detected in in India along with new double mutant strain, says Health Ministry-dnm
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New Delhi, First Published Mar 24, 2021, 2:22 PM IST

Amid the fresh spike in Covid-19 cases, the Union Health Ministry on Wednesday said that a novel variant of coronavirus had been detected in 18 states in India in addition to several other variants of concern (VOCs) found abroad.

"Though VOCs and a new double mutant variant have been found in India, these have not been detected in numbers sufficient to either establish a direct relationship or explain the rapid increase in cases in some States," the ministry said.

Out of 10,787, the British variant has been reported in 736 samples in India. The South African strain of coronavirus has been detected in 34 people in the country and the Brazil variant has been seen in one sample, the government said.

"Since INSACOG initiated its work, 771 variants of concerns (VOCs) have been detected in a total of 10787 positive samples shared by States/UTs. These include 736 samples positive for viruses of the UK (B.1.1.7) lineage. 34 samples were found positive for viruses of the South African (B.1.351) lineage. 1 sample was found positive for viruses of the Brazilian (P.1) lineage. The samples with these VOCs have been identified in 18 States of the country." Union Health Ministry said.

The government said genomic variants of various viruses are a natural phenomenon and are found in almost all countries across the world.

The samples which were used for genome sequencing and analysis were taken from inbound international travellers, contacts of those positive for VOCs and community samples from across the country.

Meanwhile, India has crossed a significant milestone of administering over 5 crore vaccines (5,08,41,286) and more than 23 lakh vaccine doses were given in the last 24 hours.

On Wednesday, India reported 47,262 new Covid-19 cases, 23,907 recoveries and 275 deaths. With this, the total cases in the country mounted to 1,17,34,058 including 3,68,457 active cases and 1,12,05,160 recoveries. The death toll has gone up to 1,60,441.

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