A potentially worrisome variant of the coronavirus detected in India may spread more easily, but the country is behind in doing the testing needed to track the variant and understand it better.
FILE - In this April 12, 2021, file photo, health worker collects nasal swab samples at a COVID-19 testing center in Hyderabad, India. The World Health Organization said Monday, May 10, that a worrisome variant was first detected in India may spread more easily. Scientists are still trying to figure out if it resulted in the terrifying surge of infections in the nation, and looking to see if this could this happen elsewhere.
“We need much more information about this virus variant,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead for COVID-19. “We need more sequencing, targeted sequencing to be done and to be shared in India and elsewhere so that we know how much of this virus is circulating.” Indian scientists say their work has been hindered by bureaucratic obstacles and the government’s reluctance to share vital data. India is sequencing around 1% of its total cases, and not all of the results are uploaded to the global database of coronavirus genomes.
First detected in the coastal Maharashtra state last year, the new variant has now been found in samples in 19 of the 27 states surveyed. Meanwhile a variant first detected in Britain has declined in India in the past 45 days.
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