"Vaccines Likely To Be Effective On Mutant Strains": Research Body Head

The number of cases of UK mutant strain in India have now gone up to 71 with 13 new cases. The genome sequencing of samples of Covid positive UK returnees is being carried out by labs of CSIR or Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. NDTV's Sukirti Dwivedi spoke to the Director General of CSIR - Dr Shekhar Mande - who said that routine genome sequencing is also being carried out apart from checking the UK passengers for mutant strains. While the government has still not announced plans for conducting studies for the South Africa strain, the CSIR DG said that the genome sequencing strategy is constantly evolving and even post vaccination they will continue their surveillance.