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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visits the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) COVID-19 facility in Lucknow with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. (Photo/ANI)
UP govt shown alertness in handling of COVID-19 situation, says Rajnath ANI | Updated: May 11, 2021 14:44 IST
Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], May 11 (ANI): Uttar Pradesh government has shown alertness in handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday. The Uttar Pradesh government has shown alertness in handling the COVID-19 pandemic situation in the state. Only those who work make mistakes but this is not the time to criticise. If someone sees faults and makes suggestions, the government will welcome it, he said.
The latest data, posted by Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Flu Data (GISAID) on the variants of novel coronavirus in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka, shows that B.1.617 represented in about 50% cases registered during March, while B.1.1.7 showed up in about 10% cases. The percentage of N440K came down to less than 10% from the peak of about 70% in February. At the same time, the presence of B.1 lineage went up to around 10 or 12% during March.
Major variants like B.1.1.7, B.1 and N440K were also noticed in significant numbers. Other variants in circulation since March 2020 made up 10%.
Commenting on the decline of N440K variant in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, former CCMB director Dr Rakesh Kumar Mishra said: “The N440K variant is diminishing and likely to disappear soon”.
HYDERABAD: A day after the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) announced that Covaxin fights the so-called double mutant, B.1.617, the city-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) said on Thursday that the Covishield vaccine, too, protects people from the new mutant.
The “double mutant” is said to be responsible for the sudden spike in the number of cases in Maharashtra and other parts of the country. Scientists earlier feared that this “double mutant”, or B.1.617, may escape the immune system and thus vaccines may not offer protection from this strain of the novel coronavirus.
However, studies by ICMR on Covaxin found that it offers protection from the new mutant.
Double mutant Covid-19 strain raises concerns in India straitstimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from straitstimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.