Infectious COVID variant spreading rapidly across country
The Hindu
Masks, vaccines the only weapon to check its spread, says adviser to CCMB
B.1.617.2, a sub-lineage of the so-called double mutated Indian variant of SARS-CoV-2 (B.1.617) which is more infectious, is currently increasing its footprint in the entire country and gradually even eclipsing the B.1.1.7 variant originated from the United Kingdom, said top scientists at the CSIR-Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB) on Monday. “It is fast becoming the dominant strain, and very efficiently. It is also seen to be spreading even in Delhi and Punjab where the UK variant was earlier found to be prevalent to the extent of 80-90%. Cases may be coming down due to the lockdowns, but the virus is still around. Face masks are the only weapon apart from vaccination to prevent it from spreading,” said former director and now adviser to CCMB, Rakesh Mishra. In the current second wave of the pandemic, the low Ct (cycle threshold) value has been apparent indicating the high viral loads, possibly contributing to more people getting infected. Similarly, it was also noticed that a significant number of those infected have been needing oxygen support.More Related News