Coronavirus | UK variant more prevalent in northern States

Super spreader events in Punjab amplified the infectious mutant strain, say experts

The UK variant of the coronavirus, marked by increased infectivity, is distinctly more prevalent in several northern and central Indian States when compared to the southern ones, a perusal of genome sequencing data from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) shows. Two scientists from Central government labs that analyse national genome sample data told The Hindu that large gatherings in Punjab have significantly amplified transmission of the variant in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana. “Punjab has a very unique trajectory in the rise of the B.1.1.7. There were at least four major clusters (super spreader events) marriages, farmer protests from February 1 to February 28 , that are responsible for large spikes. By March, Delhi was warned about a possible 15,000 critical cases,” Dr. Sujeet Singh, Director, NCDC told The Hindu. The NCDC is the coordinator of genome sequencing data from the Indian Sars Cov2 Genome Consortium (INSACOG) — a group of 10 labs across India that is collecting a fraction of coronavirus positive samples from international travellers, their contacts as well from the local communities to check for patterns in mutations — especially known variants of concern (VoC) such as the UK variant, the South African variant (B.1.1.35) and the Brazil variant (P.1).