New Delhi: Pune’s National Institute of Virology has discovered a new Covid-19 variant — B.1.1.28.2 — through genome sequencing of samples from international travelers from the United Kingdom and Brazil to India. The new variant is prone to cause severe symptoms. The findings of the pathogenicity evaluation show prolonged disease severity and point towards the need for screening of vaccine efficacy. The findings of the pre-print study have been published online on bioRxiv.
However, according to an uncorrected manuscript of a separate study by NIV, Pune, the two-dose Covaxin regimen significantly boosted antibody and neutralizing efficacy against the variant. The B.1.1.28.2 variant caused bodyweight loss, viral replication in the respiratory tract, lung injuries and caused severe lung pathology in the infected Syrian hamster model, the study said.
The study aimed towards the requirement of genomic surveillance and characterization of SARS-CoV-2 variants to understand their pathogenicity and immune escape potential for preparedness of countermeasures. Genome sequencing labs are watching at mutants that have the notable potential of severely affecting disease transmission. Recently, 10 national labs under INSACOG (Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genome Sequencing Consortia) have sequenced around 30,000 samples. The government plans to ramp up genome sequencing and recently added 18 more labs to the consortium.
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