4 detected with SA variant of Covid-19 in India, one with Brazil strain

All travellers and contacts have been tested and quarantined

The Union Health Ministry on Tuesday said that four Covid-19 infections by the South African variants of the SARS-CoV-2 and one infection by the Brazilian variant have been found in India, but there is no evidence of local transmissions by these variants so far.

Out of the four people infected by the South African strain, two returned from South Africa, whereas the other two came back from Angola and Tanzania. They returned in January and subsequently the presence of such a strain was confirmed by genetic sequencing, Balram Bhargava, director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research said.

The Brazilian strain was seen in an Indian traveller who returned from the South American nation in the first week of February.

"All the five persons and their contacts have been tested and quarantined. There is no case of any infection. The location of these individuals are not being disclosed to protect their privacy,” Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said here.

Globally reported first in December 2020, the South African strain has now spread to 44 countries. Similarly the Brazilian strain is seen in 15 nations after it was first reported in January, 2021. Both variants are associated with increased transmission risks.

The admission of the presence of the South African strain comes a week after a top government official denied entry of such a variant in India.

When asked about the South African strain’s presence in India at a press conference on February 9, NITI Ayog member Vinod Paul had stated, “As of yesterday (Feb 8, 2021), this particular variant is not in the country. We are keeping a watch.”

This gives rise to the questions like whether Paul – the government’s key advisor on Covid-19 – was not aware of the sequencing status of inbound travellers or why it took so many days to know the sequencing results of people who came back a fortnight ago.

Besides the South African and Brazilian variants, there are 187 cases of UK variants in India.

Asked whether India would impose any conditions on flights coming from South Africa and Brazil, Bhushan said that the government might initiate 100 per cent RT-PCR tests for the passengers in such flights, as was being done with UK flights.

Since there is no direct flight from Brazil or South Africa, unlike the UK, the Health and Civil Aviation Ministry are now working out the modalities on how to carry out such a screening exercise for passengers coming from those two countries..

On the rise of cases in Kerala and Maharashtra, Bhushan said that the number of RT-PCR tests in both states went down and the states were required to reverse the trend.