Prama Ghosh, Amity University Kolkata
A new variant of Coronavirus has been detected in Vietnam which is a combination of the Indian and UK variants according to the health minister on Saturday. This new hybrid strain spreads quickly by air and is more dangerous.
After examining the genetic makeup of the virus that recently infected some people, scientists pointed out that it is a new variant of the coronavirus. This hybrid strain is an Indian variant – B.1.617.2 variant with mutations that originally belonged to the UK variant. Data from the laboratory cultures showed that the new variant replicated itself very quickly which makes it more transmissible than the previously known types. According to Vietnam’s Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, gene sequencing methods could detect the mutation in 4 out of 32 patient samples.
Vietnam is observing a rise in COVID – 19 cases since April with more than half of the total 6,856 registered cases and approximately 47 deaths. More than half of its territory, including industrial zones and big cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, are struggling with fresh outbreaks. The government has placed strict limits on movement and business activity with the hope to achieve herd immunity by the end of the year.
The genome data of the newly identified variant will soon be published by the country as said by the health minister Nguyen Thanh Long. Till now, four variants of SARS-CoV-2 have been identified by WHO which are of global concern. The variants first emerged in India, Britain, South Africa, and Brazil. The country had previously detected seven variants: B.1.222, B.1.619, and D614G, known as the variant from UK, B.1.351, A.23.1, and B.1.617.2 – the variant first found in India.
Among 98 million people in the country, 2.9 million have been vaccinated so far (either first or both doses administered). The government aims to secure 150 million this year, 10 million vaccine doses under the COVAX cost-sharing scheme, 20 million doses of Pfizer’s (PFE.N) vaccine, and 40 million of Russia’s Sputnik V.
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