Apr 22 2021, 8:47 ET
Updated: Apr 22 2021, 10:05 ET
Invalid Date,
A NEW coronavirus variant has erupted in India and could be driving its surge in cases, experts have warned.
Scientists say the new variant - dubbed the Bengal variant - could be more infectious than those already circulating across the country.
2
Cases of Covid-19 have soared in India in recent days and the country is racing to get its residents vaccinatedCredit: AFP
Experts in India have already discovered a strain dubbed a double mutant or B.1.617, which carries two mutations to the spike protein, E484Q and L452R.
The so-called Bengal variant, known as B.1.618, is thought to carry three mutations and experts fear it could be driving infection rates in India.
3,029,815.0
As India faces a turbulent time handling increasingly new COVID-19 cases, news has emerged about a new lineage (B.1.618), which is being colloquially called the Bengal strain .
According to a report by TOI s Subhro Niyogi, experts say that this lineage may be capable of escaping a person’s immune surveillance, even if that person was earlier exposed to a virus without this lineage, and even if vaccinated. There has, however, been no research yet to either corroborate or dismiss the fears.
Incidentally, the double mutant type (B.1.617) was only reported last month.
“The proportion of B.1.618 has been growing significantly in recent months in Bengal,” said Vinod Scaria, who researches genome mutations at the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) on Twitter, adding, “along with B.1.617 it forms a major lineage in West Bengal”.
A policeman asks people to wear protective face masks, in Kolkata. (PTI)
KOLKATA: The Covid-19 virus that is doing the rounds in Bengal is increasingly being found to be an indigenous triple-mutation (B.1.618), only the second one identified from India after the double mutant type (B.1.617) reported last month.
The “Bengal strain”, as a scientist has dubbed it, might be more infective, and something that experts find particularly worrying may be capable of escaping a person’s immune surveillance, even if that person was earlier exposed to a virus without this mutation, and even if vaccinated. There has, however, been no research yet to either corroborate or dismiss the fears.
covid bengal strain: Why a new lineage or the Bengal strain is troubling news indiatimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from indiatimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
India COVID-19 crisis: Another mutant with major immune escape capacity raising its ugly head, say experts
Genome sequencing shows that proportions of B.1.618 have been growing significantly in recent months in West Bengal, and along with B.1.617, it forms a major lineage of the deadly virus in the state.
Share Via Email
| A+A A-
A health worker collects a swab sample to test for COVID-19 in Mumbai, India, Tuesday, April 20, 2021. (Photo | AP)
Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Even as the double-mutant Indian variant of SARS-CoV-2 virus is wreaking havoc across the country, genome experts have flagged another lineage of the coronavirus, named B.1.618, with major immune escape capacity. This variant is said to be driving the pandemic in West Bengal and spreading very fast.