Why Covid’s C.1.2 variant is worrying for India?
A new strain of SARS-CoV-2 has emerged and is worrying the world. The latest strain of Covid-19 is being called C.1.2. Scientists are saying that this is one of the most transmissible strains of the virus that we know up to now.
Researchers from NICD (National Institute for Communicable Diseases) and KRISP (KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform) in South Africa said that this variant was first detected in May 2024 in South Africa. This has spread across continents as of mid-August.
The C.1.2 strain can have 41.8 mutations/year which is 1.7 times more than the current global rate. More than half of C.1.2 sequences have 14 mutations, as we know.
The Jargon Explained
While any news on Covid new strains, transmission, and variants are alarming, everyone has to know what each term means. When a virus attaches itself to a human (host) cell, it duplicates itself to multiply. While duplicating itself, if any change in the genetic sequence of the parent virus happens then that is called a mutation. These mutated viruses are also called variants. When a variant has undergone enough change to show distinct physical properties than the parent virus then it is called strain.
Why is this worrying for India?
Till now, the C.1.2 variant has already been detected in China, Mauritius, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, New Zealand, Portugal, England, and Switzerland. With the businesses and school opening, and easing of travel restrictions, and the festival season onset, the thought of this strain entering India is scary.
Since C.1.2 is resistant to the existent vaccines, we are going back to the pre-vaccine times. Still, the study of the C.1.2 variant is at a nascent stage. The exact impact of mutations of C.1.2 will be established with more research.
