SARS-COV-2 VARIANTS IN INDIA AMD ITS IMPACT ON HUMAN HEALTH: AN OVERVIEW
*Dr. Apoorva Tangri, Dr. Khushboo Agarwal and and Dr. Alka Tangri
ABSTRACT
viruses including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 evolve. When a virus replicates or makes copies of itself, it occasionally rearranges its genome. These changes in the genome are termed “mutations”. A virus with one or more new mutations is referred to as a “variant” of the original virus. These mutations may lead to phenotypic changes which may increase or decrease the virulence of the virus. Recently, India surpassed Brazil to become the country with the second-most COVID-19 cases worldwide, only next to the United States. According to the John’s Hopkins database, COVID-19 has infected 17,997,267 people in India by the end of April 2021. Over the last week of April 2021 itself, India reported an average of approximately 350,000 daily new cases and 3000 daily deaths, setting a grim new record for the country.[1] With the second wave of COVID-19 wreaking havoc in India, the major cause of concern is the third mutation in this B.1.617 strain that has now been identified in at least four states of India. Two of these triple-mutant varieties have been found in samples collected from Maharashtra, Delhi, West Bengal, and Chhattisgarh. The Indian-origin double mutant strain of the coronavirus, B.1.167, that many experts say could be behind the rapid climb of the second COVID-19 wave, was first detected way back on October 5, last year through genome sequencing of a virus sample.
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