The recent surge in Coronavirus cases in India & are variants present the cause: Explained

Past few weeks have witnessed a massive surge in the number of Coronavirus cases in India. Scientists across the country studied samples from the new cases of Covid-19 detected to detect the variants occurrence. 

In Punjab, more than 320 samples were found to be from the UK lineage, the mutant variant that first emerged in the UK that appears to spread faster. Across India, around 736 samples have been detected to be o0f UK lineage till now. Furthermore, 34 samples were found to be of South African strain and one of Brazilian strain. These two strains are said to escape the human immune system. This raises concerns of the Covid-19 vaccines not being effective against the virus mutations. The concern is however being studied and investigated. 

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One of the main characteristic of virus is that they constantly mutate. This means that apart from these three main strains of coronavirus, there would be many other variants circulating in the Indian population. Many of these mutations might be minor and inconsequential, but there would be one in thousand genetic mutation that can alter behaviour of virus dramatically and in high probability help it sustain and adapt more. 

Scientists have determined that none of the three main variants – UK, South Africa, and Brazil – that have been originally brought in by the international travelers are the ‘variants of concern’ and cannot be attributed to the recent surge in Covid-19 cases in India. Experts say that it is still too early to blame the surge for the cases surge in India. 

UK variants in Punjab, for instance, have been detected in recent travelers. The point of concern would be raised if the variants start to appear in a wider community as well, indicating community level spread of the Covid-19 variants in India.