Hyderabad: A leading scientist in the state has now said that we cannot be satisfied with the plateau of COVID-19 cases of this level .”We have to push the cases down further otherwise we are running the risk of new variants emerging”. he said.
Rakes Mishra, advisor, CCMB, said that more the cases more the number of new variants. Speaking to Siasat, Mishra said that he had the same sources as the media on the number of cases of COVID-19 . “It is wonderful if the cases are going down but we have to wait a little bit more to see . The seven day average followed by a consistent hold on to that average is important to then say the curve is flattening, at the same time efforts should be made to push the cases down as we cannot be satisfied with the plateau of this level otherwise there is a risk of new variants emerging .” he said.
The WHO had said that B.1.617 variant first identified in India last year was being classified as a variant of global concern and the west was terming it as Indian variant. Mishra said that calling it Indian variant is wrong and any variant increasing in number is a matter of concern .
UK variant is prevalent in northern part of India at Delhi,Punjab whereas B.1.617 is prevalent in South and Western India . Hence terming B.1.617 as Indian variant is wrong. ”We don’t call the virus a China variant, do we ? ” he questioned.
He said that B.1.617 variant has been found in 50 countries and at the moment there is no need to worry about which variant because mortality is similar . Infection rate is high that is why it is replacing other variants gradually.
He also added that vaccines are still effective against these variants which is a big relief . There are various methods to stop the spread and any method useful to stop the spread should be tied and that should be the priority of all governments. Not only India but all countries should work to reduce the spread because if we allow more spread more and more variants will come he added.