Arushi Bidhuri
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Written By: Arushi Bidhuri | Updated : August 31, 2021 5:29 PM IST
New Virus Detected In 8 Countries, Believed To Be More Infectious
A novel strain of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has been discovered in South Africa and many other countries across the world. Named C.1.2, the strain is considered more transmissible and may even escape vaccination protection. As per the report, the possible variation of interest, C.1.2, was first discovered in South Africa in May this year, according to scientists from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (KRISP). As of August 13, C.1.2 has been discovered in China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mauritius, England, New Zealand, Portugal, and Switzerland.
According to local media, Sri Lankan authorities have stated that the country's health system is on high alert due to a new Covid-19 strain discovered in South Africa. Professor Chandima Jeewandara of Sri Jayewardenepura University's Immunology and Molecular Medicine Department said the coronavirus strain found in South Africa was the most altered so far, and that further mutations were expected to arise during a pandemic.
Even though the strain has not affected India, the country needs to be on alert. As for the cases, 42,909 new Covid cases were recorded in India in the previous 24 hours. In the previous 24 hours, a total of 380 deaths have been reported, bringing the overall death toll to 4,38,210. With 7,766 active cases, India's total active tally has risen to 3,76,324, accounting for 1.15 per cent of the country's total Covid cases.
As per the data by Johns Hopkins University, the global tally of the Covid-19 caseload has topped million 217 million, while the deaths have surpassed 4.50 million, and vaccinations soared to 5.23 billion. The US continues to be the worst- country with 39,048,678 total cases and 638,676 deaths. Follow the page for all updates on Covid-19.
