The Department of Biotechnology as well as the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology have refuted reports of a new COVID- 19 variant causing a rise in cases in Andhra Pradesh.
As Andhra Pradesh has been reporting around 14,000 to 23,000 new COVID-19 cases daily for the past week, several newspaper reports attributed this rise to a new variant found in a few samples in the district of Andhra Pradesh. Referencing a recent pre-print, newspapers including The Hindu suggested that a new variant 15 times more infectious is circulating in Andhra Pradesh.
However, this "new variant" was actually first found in June 2020. The N440K variant as it is scientifically called has been a variant of interest for Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genome Sequencing Consortia (INSACOG), a group of 10 laboratories that are sequencing COVID-19 positive samples from both travellers from abroad as well as at selected sites within the community.
What Is The N440K Variant?
The N440K variant is one among five other variants that have been circulating in India. In this variant, there is a mutation at the 440th position in the spike protein. The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein helps in the effective binding and transmissibility of the virus.
Found first in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh in June 2020, the variant has been found in other samples that were selected for sequencing from other areas in South India.
What Did The Pre-Print Say?
A pre-print titled "N440K variant of SARS-CoV-2 has Higher Infectious Fitness" studies the variant in cell cultures and finds that its 'infectiousness fitness'- its ability to replicate and infect faster is seen to be high in its cell cultures.
The CCMB has clarified that high infectiousness in cell cultures does not necessarily translate into it spreading faster in humans.
While The Hindu story does mention the researchers highlighting that the variant's prevalence is showing a downward trend, the headline suggests that the variant is more infectious and is currently causing the rise of COVID-19 cases in the southern state.
Is The AP Variant Actually More Infective?
The CCMB took to Twitter to clarify that the pre-print only talks about increased infectivity in cultures. This increased infectivity has not been seen in humans and this variant is prevalent in only a small proportion of samples that they have been sequenced so far.
Divya Tej Sowpati who is one of the scientists working at CCMB, also highlighted that the N440K variant is found in less than 5 percent of the samples being studied in Andhra Pradesh and Vizag. He suggested that the reports were incorrect.
Dr. Renu Swarup, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology also clarified through the COVID-19 press conference held by the Ministry that a pre-print was mispresented and its findings were wrongly reported in news reports. She even mentioned that there are not too many samples of the N440K variant and it was on the decline in the country.
Even one of the authors of the study, Vishal Sah, resorted to Twitter to clarify that the study did not mention that the virus was more infective than the other variants found in India.
Variants of Interest and Variants of Concern
While N440K is a variant of interest, the National Centre for Disease Control has also been studying variants of concern. Variants such as the ones that have been originated from UK (B.1.1.7) , South Africa (B.1.3.5.1), or Brazil (P1) and have been recognised by the WHO, are categorised as those of concern. As of May 4, India has reported 1877 cases of the UK variant, 127 cases of the South African variant, and 1 case of the Brazilian variant. Andhra Pradesh has reported 29 and 6 cases of the first two.
In India, several of the samples showed a double mutation which has been coined as the B.1.6.7 variant. With 1527 samples exhibiting this variant, it continues to be studied by the Indian scientists. It has now been identified as a variant of concern after its transmissibility was found to be faster by the UK government.