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Covid 2nd wave: Doubling time, new mutant, highest spike in Maharashtra | 10 points
When two mutated strains form a third strain, it is called a double mutation. According to government data, the double mutant in India has been formed by E484Q and L452R.
On the one-year anniversary of the nationwide lockdown for Covid-19 pandemic, India on Wednesday reported the highest single-day spike of fresh infections in 2021. The health ministry reported that a new double mutant strain of the virus has been found, apart from several other mutant strains (UK, South Africa, Brazil). The uptick in the number of fresh cases continued with Maharashtra reporting the highest single-day spike since the beginning of the pandemic.
Here are the top 10 developments regarding Covid-19 in India.
> The doubling time of Covid-19 cases has come down from 504.4 days on March 1 to 202.3 days on March 23. This means the infection is taking less time to get doubled.
> Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Haryana and Rajasthan are displaying an upward trajectory in the daily spike.
> The situation of Maharashtra and Punjab is of grave concern, the health ministry said.
> A total of 771 'variants of concerns' have been detected since December in a total of 1,07,87 positive samples. Out of these 1,07,87 positive samples, 736 samples were found positive for viruses of the UK (B.1.1.7). About 34 samples were found positive for viruses of the South African (B.1.351) lineage. One sample was found positive for viruses of the Brazilian (P.1) lineage.
> What is a double mutant strain? When two mutated strains form a third strain, it is called a double mutation. According to government data, the double mutant in India has been formed by E484Q and L452R. Thi has been found in 206 samples from Maharashtra, two samples from Punjab, nine samples from Delhi, one sample from Ladakh and Jammu each, three samples from Gujarat and one sample from Odisha.
> Mutation of a virus is very common, Niti Aayog (health) member Dr VK Paul said adding that there is no reason to worry. "When a virus replicates, it does something wrong and that's why something new (a mutant) gets developed. We have to stop the virus from replicating itself. It can happen only if we wear a mask and maintain social distancing because the virus is not getting replicated in the air," he said.
> The variants are there for the past six months and they have no resulted in any new symptom of the infection, National Centre for Disease Control's director Dr Sujeet Kumar Singh said.
> The variants can not be held responsible for the surge of cases, the Centre said. "Wherever the pool of susceptible population is bigger and when they lower the guard by not following Covid appropriate behaviours, they are prone to infection," Dr Singh said.
> Maharashtra on Wednesday reported 31,855 new Covid-19 cases, the highest since the beginning of the pandemic. Mumbai reported 5,185 new infections in its highest spike ever.
> Registration for vaccination of anyone above the age of 45 years will be open on April 1 on Cowin.gov.in. There is no scarcity of vaccines in the country, the Centre said. The gap between two doses of Covishield has been increased to six to eight weeks. But it should not be increased more than that, the Centre said. It also dismissed concerns of blood-clotting by the Covishield vaccine.
