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Another variant 😔
The unseen rate at which Covid 29 is exploding in India has been setting new records. Indja with more than 3 lakh daily news cases (which people claim is under reported ) is experiencing the surge which wasn’t seen even in US at the peak of its epidemic.
While earlier a mutant of corona with two mutations was seen fuelling the surge, another strain has been found.
The triple mutant variant' or the 'Bengal strain' is a new variant of the Covid-19 virus that has been detected in India. Experts say this variant is more infectious and is spreading rapidly. It is predominantly circulating in West Bengal So, what’s a triple mutant?
Since the discovery of the novel coronavirus in China’s Wuhan, the virus has spread around the globe with unmatched ferocity. In the UK, Brazil and South Africa, the researchers spotted new variants of the virus, which have been named after the place of the discovery.
In India scientists have also been researching , the Indian researchers had discovered the Indian variant of the virus back in October last year. Scientifically known as B.1.617 – the Indian variant of the coronavirus has two kinds of mutations – L452R and E484Q.
This mutant has been dominant in all surge states such as Maharashtra, Delhi and Chhattisgarh. Now, the scientists say that the virus has mutated further and has three types of mutations – hence the name triple mutant. It is scientifically known as B.1.618.
Reports suggest that while this variant is predominantly circulating in West Bengal, it has also been detected in samples from Delhi and Maharashtra.
Experts say at present there is no conclusive evidence to comment on the impact that this variant can have on vaccines but the presence of E484K mutation in it is a cause for concern.
E484K is a major immune escape variant and is also found in a number of emerging lineages across the world. Immune escape variants are those mutations that help the variant to evade the immune system and possibly result in compromising vaccine efficacy.
More research needs to be done.