Chennai: More infectious strains of Covid — the South African and the Brazilian strains — have been detected in India.
The South African strain of the virus has been detected in four people and the Brazil variant seen in one so far, the Indian Council of Medical Research has said.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) announced that Pune-based National Institute of Virology was in the process of isolating and culturing the South African variant in its lab. The NIV has already readied a culture of the Brazilian variant for testing.
“Serum samples drawn from those who have received the vaccines in India will be used in the lab to test if they can neutralise the two variants that recently entered India,” said Dr Samiran Panda, head of ICMRâs epidemiology and communicable diseases division.
The South African variant is also known as 501.V2. The Brazilian one has been tagged as P.1. Of the other highly infectious variety, the UK strain, there are 187 cases in India.