Double and triple mutants of COVID-19 are same; vaccines effective on it: Scientist
There is apprehension among experts that the new variant could also increase infection rates and easily surpass immune defences.
By PTI| Posted by Nikita Venkatesh | Updated: 23rd April 2021 6:34 pm IST
New Delhi: The double and triple mutant strains detected in India are one and the same variant of the coronavirus, and the available vaccines are effective on it, National Institute of Biomedical Genomics Director Soumitra Das said on Friday.
Speaking at a webinar on ‘Genome Sequencing of SARS-CoV-19’, Das said double mutant and triple mutant terms are “colloquial” and both refer to the same variant B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus.
Scientists found two triple-mutant varieties in patient samples in four states: Maharashtra, Delhi, West Bengal, and Chhattisgarh. Researchers in the country have dubbed it the Bengal strain and say it has the potential to be even more infectious than the double-mutant variant.
This is because three COVID variants have merged to form a new, possibly deadlier variant.
The Times of India spoke to Vinod Scaria, a researcher at the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology in India, who said that the triple mutant was also an immune escape variant a strain that helps the virus attach to human cells and hide from the immune system.
Covid triple-mutant found in India could be much deadlier, may be resistant to existing vaccines Apr 23, 2021, 08:24 AM
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Medics attend to COVID-19 patients at Shehnai Banquet Hall, temporarily converted into an isolation ward, as coronavirus cases surge across the country in New Delhi, India.
The mutant strain was found in samples in Bengal, and may have evolved from preexisting double mutations.
Researchers say this could affect vaccine efficacy.
Scientists found two triple-mutant varieties in patient samples in four states: Maharashtra, Delhi, West Bengal, and Chhattisgarh. Researchers in the country have dubbed it the Bengal strain and say it has the potential to be even more infectious than the double-mutant variant.
Mizoram has not reported any case of new COVID-19 variants till date, an official said on Friday. The Mizoram government has sent 326 samples of COVID- 19 infected positive patients to National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG) in West Bengal for genome sequencing, state spokesperson for COVID-19 Dr Pachuau Lalmalsawma. The samples were sent between December, 2020 and April this year, he said. Of the 326 samples, results of 69 samples have been received and all of them tested negative for new variants of COVID-19, Pachuau told PTI. He said that the results of the remaining samples are awaited.
Mizoram has so far reported 5,220 COVID-19 cases of which 4,600 patients have recovered from the disease.
Double and triple mutants of coronavirus one and the same; vaccines effective on it: Scientist
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Last Updated: Apr 23, 2021, 06:02 PM IST
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Synopsis
These variants harbour 15 lineage defining mutations. B.1.617, initially termed double mutant, has three new spike protein mutations. Two mutations E484Q and L452R are in the area important for antibody-based neutralisation.
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The double and triple mutant strains detected in India are one and the same variant of the coronavirus, and the available vaccines are effective on it, National Institute of Biomedical Genomics Director Soumitra Das said on Friday. Speaking at a webinar on Genome Sequencing of SARS-CoV-19 , Das said double mutant and triple mutant terms are colloquial and both refer to the same variant B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus.