Hyderabad: Gone are the days when humans had to worry about just one variant of the coronavirus as the entity is rapidly appearing in different forms across the globe.
More recently as South Africa, the United Kingdom and others reported newer strains of the virus, scientists at the CSIR- Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in the city have found a different but not unknown strain of the virus in the southern part of India, according to a top official of CCMR on Thursday.
The Director of the institute, Rakesh Mishra, said that though this variant is different, it seems to be a milder form of its predecessor that has spread like fire in the world. However, the institute has scaled up its efforts and is researching heavily on the new strain to ascertain its existence and extensiveness in the country. He stressed that this is a known form of the virus that the scientists have found here.
PTI quoted him as saying, “It is N440 K. It is a different variant. This is there for some time. This N440 K was very small in number in September and October last year. Now it looks like it is getting a much bigger proportion. No symptoms issues with N440 K.”
The director added that the older form has either become weak now and the new one has replaced it or this variant has come on par with the earlier established one. However, there is a need for more research on this front as there isn’t the required statistics and information to land at a conclusion.
The efforts to extract data are accelerating and Mr. Mishra said that in the near future, they will be in a position to commence a large-scale sequencing to find more about the virus strain.
Till now, the new form has been found in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and other states here in the South. Scientists, though, do not have sufficient data as of now to prove its presence in other regions of India and as such, cannot determine whether the rest of the states have witnessed this same version of coronavirus.
The director further said that CCMB hasn’t yet found an increased number of infections or even any symptoms in connection to the new form of the virus.
Currently, different parts of the world have reported various strains of the virus that induces covid-19, turning fatal in many people. Despite its presence in thousands of forms, scientists and experts are focused on a smaller number to uncover the mysteries and the unknown facts related to the virus to stay protected from its hazardous effects.
