Hindu Daily Digest - Editor's Pick: Combating the new strain

(The Editor's Pick is a new newsletter from The Hindu that provides a snapshot of the most important stories from today's edition of our newspaper, along with a note from our top editors on why we chose to give prominence to these stories.)

Reports by international media on Saturday revealed that the highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus first detected in the U.K. has now been detected in several European countries including France, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy. It has also found its way to Canada, Japan, Australia and Lebanon despite stringent efforts being taken across the globe to stop its spread.

The United States has reported no cases but the report quoted experts as saying that was only because of the country’s low rate of genetic sequencing of the virus samples to check for mutations. In view of that sobering assessment, some important news was announced yesterday at a meeting of the National Task Force (NTF) on COVID-19, convened by the Indian Council of Medical Research. It concluded that while there was no need to change the existing treatment protocol in view of the mutations emerging, 5% of the positive cases from all the States and Union Territories would now be sent for whole genome sequencing (WGS).

Currently, more than 50 samples of people who have returned from the UK are being sequenced at six labs across the country to find out if they have the mutant strain. The NTF also recommended the setting up of a ‘Genomic Surveillance Consortium’ (INSACOG) that will constantly monitor and map the various strains circulating in India.

The statement by the NTF reminds us that mutations are expected in SARS-CoV-2, as in all RNA viruses. That may be true but the fears over this new strain and its spread is now emerging in very stark contrast to the optimism over the potential arrival of a host of vaccine candidates and data which suggest that transmission peaks may have passed in several countries.

In India, as we report today, though total cases has crossed 10.1 million, the number of daily fresh cases has been steadily dropping from a peak of nearly 98,000 cases on September 16 to below 25,000 daily cases in the last few days; December 25 recorded 22,350 fresh cases. The steady drop in cases has been seen nationally without much of a spike since mid-September notwithstanding the festival season, winter and large gatherings, whether political or otherwise. The absence of a spike is all the more surprising as strict adherence to non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly mask wearing, has been far from good. There is reason for optimism but also to be highly vigilant now about the new virus strain. That’s why this story is our top pick of the day.

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