Four cases of the mutated variant of SARS-CoV-2 emerging from South Africa and one case of the Brazilian variant have been reported in India so far, officials said on Tuesday. The government has intensified tests on passengers flying in from these countries.
Indian Council of Medical Research Director Balram Bhargava said all the five persons have been quarantined.
"ICMR-NIV is attempting to isolate and culture the South African variant of SARS-CoV-2, while the Brazil variant of SAS-CoV-2 has been isolated and cultured at ICMR-NIV-Pune," Bhargava said, adding that the efficacy of the vaccines on these cases will be known only after the isolation and culture of the variant.
He said there are 187 cases of the UK strain in India.
Bhargava, however, noted that no mortality has been reported so far in the cases who contracted the UK variant as well as the South African and Brazilian strains.
While the South African variant (B.1.351) has spread to at least 44 countries, the Brazilian strain (P.1 lineage) has spread to 15 countries.
"We have done disembarkations, mandatory RT-PCR tests for travelers coming from UK. Those who tested positive, their genome sequencing is being done. This is a good strategy. I hope... we might follow this similar strategy for flights from South Africa and Brazil," said Rajesh Bhushan, Health Secretary.
Meanwhile, the active cases in the country are showing a consistent decline with 31 states/UTs reporting recovery rate more than the national average.
According to a health ministry statement on Tuesday, 17 states/UTs reported no deaths in the last 24 hours while six states/UTs reported no new cases in the same period.
