The second phase of Covid vaccine began today in India (File)
New Delhi:
Nineteen new UK, South African and Brazilian cases of the coronavirus have been detected in India bringing the total number of infections of the more contagious variants to 213, the government said today.
The Ministry of Health had stated in their last report that there was one case of the Brazilian variant and six of the South African series in the country. Of the other highly contagious mixture, UK snoring, 187 cases were in India.
The government had said that people flying in from these countries could be tested more aggressively. A new set of travel guides has been issued following the discovery of infectious strains in India. The new rules apply to all incoming international travelers except those from the UK, Europe and the Middle East, the health ministry said.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the new rays are more infectious and spread faster, and vaccines may be just as effective on these patients, although there is no evidence.
All three layers have undergone changes in their spike protein, or the part of the virus that binds to human cells, and appears to be better at capturing cells, according to scientists.
South African and Brazilian rays can affect a person’s lungs more easily than the UK’s mutation, scientists say.
The head of the Indian Medical Examination Council (ICMR), Balram Bhargava, said the current vaccines have the potential to neutralize the UK variety and trials are underway to assess the effectiveness of the vaccines against changes in South Africa and Brazil.
India has seen a sharp drop in diseases in the last few months and very few states like Kerala, Punjab and Maharashtra are fighting a big spike.
The second phase of Covid vaccination began today with Prime Minister Narendra Modi the first beneficiary of Covaxin Bharat Biotech.
The government hopes to vaccinate 30 crore people by August in the second phase.
More vaccines are likely to be approved for use in the coming months, including Sputnik-V of Russia and ZyCov-D at Cadila Healthcare.
India reported more than 15,000 cases in the last 24 hours bringing the total number of infections to over 1.11 crore.