In a major breakthrough for India, the Indian Medical Research Council (ICMR) announced on Saturday that its Pune-based institute – National Institute of Virology (NIV) has successfully isolated and cultured the UK strain of Coronavirus (COVID-19) from arrivals in the UK. Claiming that India was the first to isolate the strain of the British variant of COVID-19, ICMR said that vero cell lines were used by ICMR scientists to cultivate the British variant of the virus. Currently, 29 people have tested positive for the new COVID-19 strain in the UK.
The Ministry of Health states that “the vaccine works against the new COVID strain, without evidence of failure”
ICMR: “India first isolates strain of British variant”
Gujarat: Four UK returnees detected with new COVID strain in Ahmedabad, isolated
What is the new British version?
The new strain first came to light in December in the United Kingdom, but the samples in which it was found were collected in September. This led to the British government announcing a strict level 4 blockade in parts of the UK, with nine European countries soon reporting cases of the new strain. After the British government found out about the new strain on December 8, it informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about the new variant – which claimed that there is still no evidence that the pathogen behaves differently from existing virus types. However, pharmaceutical companies have said they expect their vaccines to work against all variants.
The new Coronavirus strain has already made its way to India, with the Union’s Ministry of Civil Aviation extending the UK flight ban until 6 January 2021, requiring testing of all returnees from the UK from 25 December to date. While reports said the strain is said to be 70% more communicable, the Union Ministry of Health said developing vaccines would work against variants detected in the UK and South Africa. A consortium of 10 government laboratories across the country has been set up for genome sequencing, with the Center recommending that all states perform genome sequencing with 5% of all samples in their laboratories.
“COVID virus mutations due to improper use of therapies,” says ICMR chief
Covishield and Covaxin nod
On 1 January, the candidate for the COVID-19 vaccine of the Serum Institute of India (SII) – Covishield – was recommended by the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of the Central Organization for the Control of Drug Standards (CDSCO) for authorization of emergency use – making him the first vaccine. to receive the green signal. A similar sign was given to Bharat Biotech Pvt. Vaccine Ltd (BBL) – Covaxin, while Zydus Cadila received a nod to begin phase 3 studies. Both vaccines are now waiting for the DCGI, while the Minister of Health of the Union, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, announced that the free COVID-19 vaccines will be provided to the highest priority beneficiaries in the first phase of inoculation.
COVID-19: Scientists discover new coronavirus strain in UK