‘Delta plus’ variant of coronaviurs emerges
The highly contagious ‘Delta’ variant of the corona virus has mutated to become ‘Delta Plus’ or ‘AY.1’ but scientists say that there is nothing to be worried about in India as the country still has very few cases till now.
The ‘Delta Plus’ variant, caused by a mutation in the delta or ‘B1.617.2’ variant of the virus, was first identified in India and was responsible for the second wave of the pandemic. While there is no indication yet of how deadly the disease can be caused by the new variant of the virus, Delta Plus is an antagonist of the ‘monoclonal antibody cocktail’ treatment that has recently been approved in India.
Vinod Scaria, a scientist at Delhi-based CSIR- Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), tweeted on Sunday that the K-417N mutation causes the B1.617.2 variant, also known as AY.1.
He said that this mutation occurred in the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, which helps the virus to infect human cells. Scaria wrote on Twitter, “The type stemming from K417N in India is not too many yet. These sequences have mostly come from Europe, Asia and America.
Scaria also said that the mutation may also be related to immunity against the virus. Immunology expert Vinita Bal said that although the use of the ‘antibody cocktail’ has come as a setback due to the new variant of the virus, it does not mean that the virus is more contagious or it will make the disease more deadly.
The visiting teacher force at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune, said that how contagious this new type is, it will be important to test its ability to spread rapidly or vice versa.
They also said that the quality and number of antibodies that protect cells from pathogens in a newly infected person are not expected to be affected by the mutation. Respiratory specialist and medical researcher Anurag Aggarwal supported Bal’s view
