Five Types of Coronavirus From 9 Countries Reached India, Revealed in Genome Sequencing

New Delhi : The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has done genome sequencing of one thousand coronavirus found in ten states of the country and tried to know where it came from. It was learned that five types of COVID-19 viruses from nine countries have been found in the country. The department started genome sequencing in April, which was recently completed.

According to this, five types of viruses have been found in the country which are classified as 19A, 19B, 20A, 20B and 20C. Of these, 19 A and B viruses have arrived in India from China, while 20 A, B and C have come from Britain, Italy and Saudi Arabia. 20A has been found in almost every part of the country, most of which originate in Italy and Saudi Arabia. It has also come from Britain and Switzerland, but very little.

Sequencing results showed that 20B strain came from Britain and reached most parts of the country, but in the western part of the country 20B strains were also found from Brazil, whereas in some parts of South India the same strain came from Italy and Greece. This analysis also shows that in North and East India, 20A strain cases of Corona have been found to be more than 50%, while 20B was found to be the highest in 75% in the south and west. Of the 19 A and B corona strains that arrived mostly from China, the highest presence of 19 A was found to be around 20 per cent in North India. It was not more than 15 per cent in the east and six-seven per cent in the western and southern part.

It is clear from this analysis that the spread of corona strains from China has been the lowest in the country. The reason for this is clear that China’s flights were being screened at the airport, while the flight screening of Europe and other countries was decided later. Apart from this, some minor mutations have also been found in these five strains whose effects are being studied. This sequencing is also important for the development of pharmaceutical, vaccine and investigation techniques. It also tells us how the virus got into the country and then spread.