NIV Pune Detects New Corona Virus Variant That’s Likely To Cause Severe Symptoms

Pune, June 08: A new variant of coronavirus B.1.1.28.2 has been detected in India through genome sequencing conducted by the National Institute of Virology, (NIV), Pune.

The new variant was isolated from from nasal and throat swabsfrom international travelers from UK and Brazil. The pathogenicity of the isolate was assessed in Syrian hamster model and compared with B.1 variant.

According to a study by NIV, the B.1.1.28.2 variant induced body weight loss, caused viral replication in the respiratory tract, lung erosion. It also causes severe lung pathology in infected Syrian hamster model.