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Covid mutants are spreading fast in Maharashtra, lockdown can contain it, says Dr Shekhar Mande, director-general CSIR
PUNE Curbs on the movement of people can help stop the spread of the virus, which has mutated into a more transmissible avatar in Maharashtra and other states of the country, said Dr Shekhar Mande, director-general of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
PUNE Curbs on the movement of people can help stop the spread of the virus, which has mutated into a more transmissible avatar in Maharashtra and other states of the country, said Dr Shekhar Mande, director-general of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
His remarks came on Sunday when the Maharashtra government imposed new restrictions, including complete lockdown on weekends.
Mande, while speaking to reporters in Pune via video conferencing, said one of the mutants seen in Maharashtra is a matter of concern for health authorities.
“The state has seen double mutation with two variants E484Q and L452R. The E484Q mutation has been detected in Maharashtra before and L452R was found in patients in California in the United States and is most likely to have transmitted here after people travelled from the US to India,” he said.
“We have asked the state government to monitor L452R mutant, which is causing concern. On this, I am in constant touch with state government,” said Mande, adding people not following rules is another reason besides mutation of virus for the rapid spread of Covid infection in Maharashtra.
When asked if there is a concrete study to show lockdown do work, Mande said, “The lockdown has shown it contains the spread as people stay indoors. Even if the virus spreads, it only affects the family members and it will not spread outside. If you see the last year’s lockdown in India, the spread of the disease was quite slow in the country to compare to other countries including Italy where the explosion of Covid was witnessed.”
Mande, however, said there is a need to balance between restrictions and saving the economy. “There are side effects of the lockdown too as it affects economy adversely which leads to job loss. So we need to look for the balance while imposing the lockdown. Possibilities need to be seen whether full or partial lockdown can be imposed,” he said
On the effectiveness of vaccines, especially when the virus is mutating, Mande said there is little evidence that the vaccine would not work on the mutants. “There are two divergent views that have emerged in the scientific literature in last one or two months that some vaccines are acting less effective on mutants, but it has been challenged by some who say that vaccine is equally effective on mutants,” he said.
