Amid cases of new variants of mutated SARS-CoV-2 emerging in India, it has become important to understand how the symptoms of different new variants vary from the original one.
The UK-based New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) recently reported that the Kent variant may be up to 70 percent more deadly than previous strains.
In South Africa, another variant called B.1.351 emerged independently of B.1.1.7.
Vaccine makers Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech have already announced that they are working to modify their vaccines—and possibly to create booster shots—to better protect against the South African variant.
This variant contains a set of additional mutations that may affect its ability to be recognised by antibodies.
However, the mutated variants are comparatively new and under radar by various health experts and scientists, so, it may take a while for us to know the exact symptoms of these variants.
"Secondly, there is a factor called virulence, which means the ability of a microbial strain to cause disease. It is unknown in South African and Brazilian mutant strains," Bhagawati added.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has found a total of 192 Covid-19 cases of the new variants of mutated SARS-CoV-2 in the last two months, including four from the variant emerging in South Africa and one from the Brazilian variant.
ICMR Director General, Balram Bhargava, however, noted that no mortality has been reported so far in the cases who contracted the UK variant as well as those who are infected by the variants from South Africa and Brazil.
(This story was published from a syndicated feed. Only the headline and picture has been edited by FIT).
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)