'New Covid-19 strain not in India yet but can’t…’: Director ICMR-NARI

Director and scientist of ICMR-National AIDS Research Institute (NARI), Dr Samiran Panda said that lowering our guards would be disastrous even though the new Covid-19 strain hasn’t been seen in India yet.

He said, “We have tested samples collected from the various parts of the country and haven't seen the mutant strain of SARS-CoV2 found in the United Kingdom.

Over the last 6-7 months, the viral genome studies that have taken place involving over 2,000 samples in India, have not identified this mutation.

It is premature to think that the efforts to develop a vaccine are going to fall apart.

There isn't enough scientific evidence to say that the vaccine is going to fail.” UK officials have said the new strain is 70% more contagious than the old one.

The Indian government has temporarily banned flights to and from UK till December 31.

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