16 cases of double mutant Covid variant in Bengaluru

At least two districts in the state — Bengaluru and Kalaburagi — have the double mutant Covid variant B.1.617.

As many as 16 of these cases are in Bengaluru. These were detected in four clusters, which includes single households and apartments.

While the Dasarahalli zone has two cases, west zone has five, south zone has four and Bommanahalli zone reported five.

CORONAVIRUS SPECIAL COVERAGE ONLY ON DH

“While a few are in home quarantine, others are in hospitals. One of them is from Nepal and had visited Maharashtra. We have received the data only in the afternoon. We have communicated the same to the respective zones,” a BBMP official said.

Dr V Ravi, state nodal officer for genetic sequencing of SARS-CoV-2, said this is the same as the double mutant virus found in Maharashtra and that these patients had a travel history of visiting Maharashtra.

“There are more samples for which confirmation will be provided by Wednesday. So far, more than 300 Covid samples have been sequenced in the state. These samples are from the community and hence, have obviously spread to the community,” Ravi said.

Kalaburagi deputy commissioner V V Jyotsna confirmed there were four cases in the district.

“We had sent 15 samples to the specialised laboratory about two months ago for genomic sequencing of Covid-19 virus. It has confirmed the double-mutant virus in four samples. There is nothing to worry as the treatment protocol is the same and all the patients with the strain have been isolated and are being treated,” Jyotsna told DH.

Double mutation refers to B.1.617’s mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein’s coding sequence at E484Q and L452R. The double mutant’s data is yet to come both in terms of epidemiology and cell culture. It is a variant under investigation.

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“If there is a new variant, the centres dedicated to isolate these patients should be pressed into action. It is also important to understand if this can be neutralised by sera from vaccines. NIV has shown that Covaxin is effective against the double mutant. We do not have data on its infectivity or if it affects one age group with more virulence than the other,” Ravi said. Similar tests are underway for Covishield.

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The virus takes two weeks to be isolated and five days for a neutralisation test, he said.

6 with SA strain

Also, the number of Covid patients with the South Africa strain has increased from three to six in Karnataka. They are international travellers.

While the South Africa variant has been restricted to a few, the UK variant has spread in the community, especially in Punjab and Delhi. Karnataka has 46 patients with the UK strain of the virus.