In India,the South African and Brazilian mutant strains of coronavirus have already entered,besides the UK mutant variant of coronavirus and has reported in 187 people tillnow.

BalramBhargava, director-general of Indian Council of Medical Research, said onTuesday that four people in India were detected with the South Africa variantof coronavirus infection in January, whereas one was tested positive for theBrazil variant in the 1^st week of February.

All these fivepeople have been quarantined. The South Africa strain was detected in fourreturnees, i.e., one each from Angola and Tanzania and two from South Africa inJanuary. The ICMRNIV is trying to isolate and culture the SA variant strainfrom samples of the four returnees. The Brazil variant has revealed mutationsin the receptor binding domain of the spike protein and has increased transmissibilityand has spread to 15 countries till now. India has already confirmed one caseof the variant strain that was detected in the first week of February in aBrazil returnee. The traveller and his contacts are tested and quarantined. Thevirus strain is isolated and cultured at ICMR-NIV, Pune.

The total numberof people tested positive for the UK variant of COVID-19 in India has reached187.

Healthsecretary Rajesh Bhushan said that the flights from South Africa and Brazil toIndia are directed through Gulf nations to keep a check on the entry of virusstrains into the country. The government is trying to bring in certain measuresto keep a check on passengers from these countries.

Source : ET Healthworld