Indian Coronavirus Variant Found in Bangladesh
Indian Coronavirus variant has been found in Bangladesh. Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research IEDCR has detected it. This information has been published in the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID) database.
The person with Coronavirus was first identified in Bangladesh on March 8 last year. The first death due to Covid-19 occurred on March 18, 2020.
Syed Muktadir Al Siam, a researcher at the Child Health Research Foundation (CHRF), a private company, said in the first light on Saturday that the Indian coronavirus variant in Bangladesh, B.1. 617.2 found. It has been submitted by the Institute for Developing Health Science and Health Initiative (IDESI). And sample collection institutes of the IEDCR, Bangla daily Prothom Alo reports.
Scientists around the world are now experimenting with a variant or type of coronavirus detected in India.
However, it is not yet known how much this variant of Covid has actually spread, and how much the newly detected coronavirus is responsible for the terrible ‘second wave’ of infection that is now going on in India.
Any virus constantly causes mutations within itself, that is, it changes itself, and this leads to different types of the same virus.
On the other hand, according to a database by GISID, an international organization engaged in collecting and exchanging information on infectious diseases, Indian variants of coronavirus have already been detected in at least 21 countries.
The Indian coronavirus variant has also been found in Britain due to travel. The virus has been detected in the bodies of 103 covid patients since February 22. As a result, travel from India to Britain has almost been banned.
The Indian variant has now been included in the list of variants of coronavirus that the Department of Public Health in England is now studying. But they have not yet said that the variant has caused “particular concern.”
Scientists are yet to find out if this coronavirus, first detected in India, causes infection faster than others, or if vaccines are effective against it.
Dr. Jeremy Kamil, a virologist in the State of Louisiana, USA, said a mutation detected in the India Variant resembles the mutation detected in the South African and Brazil variants, BBC reports.
This mutation can help the virus pass the antibodies formed in the immune system in the body. This has been observed in various previous tests on infections and vaccines.
This Indian variant has been found so far in 18 countries.
But many scientists believe that the current concern in Britain is the variant of the coronavirus. The British variant has now spread to more than 50 countries.
Why is there very little information about the India variant?
Scientists say most of the data available so far about the Indian coronavirus variant is incomplete.
The number of samples in the hands of scientists is also very low. The number of samples in India is only 298, and 656 worldwide. In comparison, the number of complete samples of the British variant is at least 384,000.
After the first detection of this variant in India, it has been found to be less than 400 worldwide, says Dr. Kamil.
Is this the reason for the second wave in India?
The number of new Covid-19 infections in India is over 200,000 per day since April 15. the highest number of infections a day during the first round of infection last year was 93,000.
Not only infections but also the number of deaths is on the rise.
“India’s high population and densely populated mutations have created an ideal environment for the virus,” says Ravi Gupta, professor of clinical microbiology at the University of Cambridge.
However, the high level of infection that we are now seeing in India can be followed by large mass gatherings as well as mask-less and social distance-ignoring behavior.
Dr. Jeffrey Barrett of the Welcome Sanger Institute says the new coronavirus variant may be linked to the current dire situation in India, but there is no enough evidence yet.
He said the Indian variant has been in the country since late last year, reports BBC.
Will vaccine work?
Both Bangladesh and India are continuing Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccination programme to fight against the Covid-19.
Scientists believe that the currently available coronavirus vaccines will protect patients with the Indian coronavirus variant from falling ill.
However, a research report conducted by Professor Gupta and his associates published in the journal Nature says that some of the vaccines could not fight coronavirus new variants. As a result, new types of vaccines have to be brought in and current vaccines have to be swapped.
However, vaccines that have now been developed are capable of reducing the infection or danger of coronavirus.
