New variant of Corona raises concerns, Centre issues fresh advisory to states

The central government has been alerted after new variants of the Covid-19 were found in South Africa, Hong Kong and Botswana. On Thursday, the Center directed all state governments to carry out strict checks on passengers from abroad, especially from these three countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) is also keeping a close eye on this variant.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has sent a letter to the states. "According to the NCDC, the new variant of Covid-19 B.1.1529 has 3 patients in Botswana, 6 in South Africa and 1 in Hong Kong," it said. According to the information received from the scientists, this new variant harbours a large number of mutations found in other variants.

Bhushan further said that apart from these three countries, the regulations issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare have also asked to pay close attention to the passengers coming from some other countries. According to the MoHFW guidelines, the contacts of these international travellers should also be closely monitored and tested, the letter said. So far 10 cases have been confirmed in genomic sequencing.

Dr Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London, announced the new variant (b.1.1.529) on his Twitter account earlier this week. Other scientists have been exploring this new variant ever since. Professor Adrian Puren, Acting Executive Director of NICD, says, “A new pattern has been found in South Africa. Our experts are making every effort to understand the new pattern. More information about this variant will be available soon.