Bangladesh on Saturday extended the closure of land borders with India for 14 more days, hours after the country detected six cases of the so-called 'Indian variant' of the COVID-19. The land borders with India were sealed on April 26 in view of the worsening coronavirus situation in the neighbouring country. "The decision to keep close the land borders with India has been extended for 14 more days in view of the COVID-19 situation," a foreign ministry spokesman said, according to reports.
It was not just Bangladesh. Sri Lanka on Saturday detected its first case of the Indian variant of coronavirus in a person who recently returned from India. The Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine of the University of Sri Jayewardenapura in a report said the infected person was found at a quarantine center for returnees in Colombo.
Seven cases of the variant were most recently found in the UK's Bedfordshire county.
What is the so-called 'Indian variant', and why the panic?
The Indian variant is the B.1.617 strain of the coronavirus. Though there is no concrete epidemiological evidence yet, the 'double mutant' is feared to be contributing to the deadly surge in cases in India. It has been designated as the Variants of Interest (VOI) by the World Health Organisation (WHO). In its report, the WHO had said that the Indian strain of the coronavirus has been found in at least 17 countries.
The B.1.617 variant has three new spike protein mutations. E484Q and L452R, in the crucial spike protein part of the pathogen, increases its transmissibility. The third mutation—P681R—allows the virus to enter cells more efficiently. It is not believed to feature the E.484K mutation found in the South African variant of the virus, which could help the virus dodge a person's immune system.
The B.1.617 was first detected in October. Last month, UK's Public Health England (PHE) had categorised two further subtypes to that B.1.617.2 and B.1.617.3. Health authorities in England had elevated one subtype to a Variant of Concern (VOC) following a rise in the number of cases in the UK and evidence of community transmission.
The B.1.617.2, classified as a Variant Under Investigation (VUI) on April 28, is now known as VOC-21APR-02 after it was found to be at least as transmissible as the so-called Kent variant, detected in England last year and the dominant variant in the UK so far. Cases of VOC-21APR-02 had increased to 520 from 202 over the last week and almost half the cases are related to travel or contact with a traveller, according to the PHE.
What are the strains driving COVID-19 in India?
The UK strain of coronavirus is currently dominating parts of north India while double mutant could be found mostly in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat, Sujeet Singh, Director of National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), had said last week. He, however, added that the B1.1.7 lineage of SARS CoV-2 (UK variant) is declining in proportion across the country in the last month and a half.
Singh said the UK strain is dominating parts of north India including Punjab (482 samples) and Delhi (516), followed by Telangana (192), Maharashtra (83) and Karnataka (82).
B.1.617 is mostly dominating Maharashtra (761), West Bengal (124), Delhi (107) and Gujarat (102), Singh said.
The South African variant, also known as B.1.315, was predominantly found in Telangana and Delhi. Brazilian variant (P1) was only found in Maharashtra in a negligible proportion, he said.
-Inputs from agencies
