Centre cautions states on new Covid variant found in South Africa

The Centre on Thursday warned all states and union territories to be extra cautious in view of a new Covid variant detected by South African scientists. The Centre’s warning is regarding international passengers travelling from or through Botswana, South Africa and Hong Kong after the new variant (B.1.1529) has been reported in these countries.

In a missive to the states and UTs, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan wrote, “It is imperative that all international travellers travelling from and transiting through these countries and also including all other ‘at risk’ countries are subjected to rigorous screening and testing. The contacts of these international travellers must also be closely tracked and tested.” In the letter, the Centre said multiple cases of this new variant have been reported in Botswana (3 cases), South Africa (6 cases) and Hong Kong (1 case). “This variant is reported to have a significantly high number of mutations and thus has serious public health implications for the country, in view of recently relaxed visa restrictions and opening up of international travel,” the Centre said. There are reports that the new variant has as many as 32 mutations.

Meanwhile, officials of the World Health Organization (WHO) met on Thursday to discuss the new variant of coronavirus. The new variant, called B.1.1529, carries an “unusually large number of mutations”, Francois Balloux, director of the UCL Genetics Institute, said in a statement published by the Science Media Centre. It’s likely to have evolved during a chronic infection of an immuno-compromised person, possibly in an untreated HIV/AIDS patient, he said.

“It is difficult to predict how transmissible it may be at this stage,” Balloux said. “For the time being, it should be closely monitored and analysed, but there is no reason to get overly concerned, unless it starts going up in frequency in the near future.” South Africa has detected 22 cases of the variant, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases said in a statement. “It is not surprising that a new variant has been detected in South Africa,” NICD Acting Executive Director Adrian Puren said in the statement. “Although the data are limited, our experts are working overtime with all the established surveillance systems to understand the new variant and what the potential implications could be. Developments are occurring at a rapid pace and the public has our assurance that we will keep them up to date.”

The new variant was first picked up by Imperial College London virologist Dr Tom Peacock, who shared details on a genome-sharing website.