India's variant-fuelled second wave coincided with spike in infected flights landing in Canada
As Indian officials ID worrying new 'double-mutant' COVID strain, Delhi continues to be Canada's top source of infected airline passengers
Author of the article:
Bryan Passifiume
Publishing date:
Apr 10, 2021 • 19 hours ago • 3 minute read • 141 Comments
While India banned international flights last month, Canada is one of 13 nations exempted via an 'air bridge' arrangement between the two governments.
India’s devastating second COVID-19 wave correlated with the sudden spike in infected passengers from that country arriving at Canadian airports.
And that wave, say Indian health officials, is being fuelled by a recently-discovered ‘double-mutation’ strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus — a variant that combines two mutations only previously found in separate strains that increase infectiousness and resistance to antibodies.
“Such mutations confer immune escape and increased infectivity,” read a March 24 statement from India’s Health Ministry.
“These mutations have been found in about 15-20% of samples and do not match any previously catalogued VOCs.”
Between March 21 and April 6, 121 flights landed in Toronto carrying infected passengers — 42 of those flights arrived from Delhi.
This ‘double-mutant’ strain, which as of Thursday earned designation B.1.617, is believed responsible for surges of COVID-19 infections in India’s hardest-hit states, say health officials.
While officials agree B.1.617 is freely spreading around India — with some estimating its responsible for a nearly 60% surge in cases in India’s most populous state of Maharashtra, there’s evidence B.1.617 is spreading beyond the country’s borders.
A scientist described B.1.617 to Chennai-based newspaper The Hindu as a “homegrown variant and widely exported internationally.”
Indeed, earlier this week Stanford University researchers identified five separate B.1.617 cases in the San Francisco Bay Area — the first such cases in North America.
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As Indian officials ID worrying new 'double-mutant' COVID strain, Delhi continues to be Canada's top source of infected airline passengers
Author of the article:
Bryan Passifiume
Publishing date:
Apr 10, 2021 • 19 hours ago • 3 minute read • 141 Comments
India’s devastating second COVID-19 wave correlated with the sudden spike in infected passengers from that country arriving at Canadian airports.
And that wave, say Indian health officials, is being fuelled by a recently-discovered ‘double-mutation’ strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus — a variant that combines two mutations only previously found in separate strains that increase infectiousness and resistance to antibodies.
“Such mutations confer immune escape and increased infectivity,” read a March 24 statement from India’s Health Ministry.
“These mutations have been found in about 15-20% of samples and do not match any previously catalogued VOCs.”
Between March 21 and April 6, 121 flights landed in Toronto carrying infected passengers — 42 of those flights arrived from Delhi.
This ‘double-mutant’ strain, which as of Thursday earned designation B.1.617, is believed responsible for surges of COVID-19 infections in India’s hardest-hit states, say health officials.
While officials agree B.1.617 is freely spreading around India — with some estimating its responsible for a nearly 60% surge in cases in India’s most populous state of Maharashtra, there’s evidence B.1.617 is spreading beyond the country’s borders.
A scientist described B.1.617 to Chennai-based newspaper The Hindu as a “homegrown variant and widely exported internationally.”
Indeed, earlier this week Stanford University researchers identified five separate B.1.617 cases in the San Francisco Bay Area — the first such cases in North America.
...
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