In South India, coronavirus variant N440K is prevalent since last year and it is diminishing, say scientists.

‘The new COVID variant, named as the AP strain, which was identified in Kurnool district, is believed to be 15 times more deadly and stronger than other Indian variants.’

"The mutant is not new. We have been seeing it in south India since last year," the scientists said in a tweet on Wednesday. 




When the variant was examined in controlled cell culture, it made more copies. However, "it does not necessarily mean that it can compete with other variants just the same way in a real life pandemic where new variants keep coming up. Our genome studies say that N440K is now diminishing", the scientists said.
The N440K variant, associated with immune escape, had been detected in the labs of Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia (INSACOG).
INSACOG -- a grouping of 10 national laboratories -- has been carrying out genomic sequencing and analysis of circulating Covid-19 viruses, and correlating epidemiological trends with genomic variants.
The variant was found in 123 samples from 11 districts in Kerala; 33 per cent of samples from Andhra Pradesh, and in 53 of 104 samples from Telangana.
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"Our main focus as a community should be on reducing the spread of coronavirus. The more it spreads, the more variants come up, the more mess we create by increasing uncertainties and fear," the scientists tweeted.
Source-IANS