In a first, Pune’s National Institute of Virology (NIV) has isolated and cultured the new UK variant of SARSCoV2, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said underlining that no other country has so far reported isolation and culture of the latest UK strain. “UK-variant of the virus, with all signature changes, is now successfully isolated and cultured at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) from the clinical specimens collected from UK-returnees,” ICMR said. Vero-cell lines were used by the scientists to culture the UK-variant of the virus, it added.
Isolation of the virus is the first step towards expediting development of drugs, vaccines and rapid diagnostic kits in the country. SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing Covid-19, was being tracked through countrywide network of ICMR laboratories since early days of the pandemic in India. India has reported at least 29 cases of the new coronavirus variants. While the new variant has higher transmissibility, it has prompted comprehensive contact-tracing for co-travellers, family members and others of those who have travelled to the UK in the last 38 days. From November 25 to December 23, 2020, midnight, about 33,000 passengers disembarked at various Indian airports from the UK. All these passengers are being tracked and subjected by states to RTPCR tests to detect Covid-19.
Some mutations can also save lives: Study
At a time when the ‘UK strain’ of Covid-19 has fuelled fear due to its reputation as a highly infectious strain, a research on mutations in coronavirus has found that not all mutations are bad. Some can even be beneficial for humans! A recent ‘in-silico’ (computer simulation) study by researchers from Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC) along with other institutions claimed that C241T mutation – found in a large section of infected persons – could be responsible for lower mortality and improved recovery rates.
Researchers from Gujarat University, Institute of Advanced Research from India and University of Tennessee also contributed to the research. “This specific mutation was chosen for in-depth study due to its very high frequency not only in Gujarat and India, but globally. In our earlier study, it was found that over 80% of the positive cases in Gujarat had this mutation present,” said a senior GBRC official. “The study simulated its docking with the human cell on two parameters and found that it affects folding of RNA – in turn reducing efficiency of the virus to replicate in a host. In simpler terms, it can reduce viral load, which can reduce mortality and improve recovery rates.”
India split into 6 regions in hunt for UK strain
India has now been split into six regions for a massive molecular hunt for the new UK variant of the coronavirus in positive samples. The search has expanded to include everyone, not just those recently back from foreign countries. Ten regional labs will genetically sequence all positive samples - via RT-PCR - that have had a cycle threshold (CT) value of 30 or less. The CT value is the number of cycles an RT-PCR device has had to run to amplify viral RNA for it to reach detectable levels. A CT value of 30 or less indicates high viral load in the infected person’s throat/ nasal swab samples.
