86 new double mutant cases recorded
The Hindu
Tuesday recorded 39,510 new cases, 480 deaths
The State on Tuesday recorded 86 new double mutant (B.1.617) cases taking the total number of cases with this strain to 148. This is apart from the 86 U.K. strain and six South African strain cases reported so far. V. Ravi, nodal officer for genomic confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 in Karnataka, told The Hindu that most of these 86 are from Bengaluru. This variant is slowly taking over and replacing other circulating strains in many of the southern States including Karnataka in the past four weeks. It is one of the main reasons for the ongoing surge in Karnataka, he said. Detected first in India, this double mutant COVID-19 variant B.1.617 has been reported in 44 countries now. It is spreading fast across the U.K. and has caused concern. Therefore, the Public Health England has declared it as a Variant of Concern (VoC) two days ago. Subsequently, the World Health Organisation (WHO) followed it up by declaring it as VoC on Monday.More Related News