NEW DELHI: The UK strain of coronavirus is currently dominating parts of north India while double mutant could be found mostly in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat, Sujeet Singh, Director of National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), has said.
He, however, added that the B1.1.7 lineage of SARS CoV-2 (UK variant) is declining in proportion across the country in the last month and a half.
Addressing a press briefing on Wednesday, Singh said the UK strain is dominating parts of north India including Punjab (482 samples) and Delhi (516), followed by Telangana (192), Maharashtra (83) and Karnataka (82).
He said 10 top government laboratories and institutions have been sequencing the genomes of coronavirus since December.
A total of 18,053 samples have been sequenced so far, he added.
Singh said the information on genome sequencing has been shared with the states twice in February, four times in March and again four times in April.
He said in the video-conferencing with states, the Health Ministry also informed about the current status of variants of concern and new mutants and stressed on increased and stringent public health interventions.
The double mutant variant, also known as B.1.617, is mostly dominating Maharashtra (761), West Bengal (124), Delhi (107) and Gujarat (102), Singh said.
The South African variant, also known as B.1.315, was predominantly found in Telangana and Delhi.
Brazilian variant (P1) was only found in Maharashtra in a negligible proportion, he said.
Singh said there is a frequent written communication on the variants by the Health Ministry and the NCDC to all states and UTs.
He said states/UTs are advised to keep strict surveillance in the districts reporting new variants of concern where they can take up stringent public health measures including contact tracing, genome sequencing of positive samples of persons having history of international travel.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi are among 10 states that account for 72.19 per cent of the new COVID-19 cases reported in a day, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday.
New coronavirus cases and deaths in India hit a record daily high with 4,12,262 new infections and 3,980 fatalities being reported, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 2,10,77,410 and the death toll to 2,30,168.
The ministry said that Karnataka,Kerala, Haryana, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan are among the other states in the list of 10.
Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 57,640.
It is followed by Karnataka with 50,112 while Kerala reported 41,953 new cases.
Besides Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Jhakhand account for 75.55 per cent of the new deaths.
Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (920).
Uttar Pradesh follows with 353 daily deaths.
"The National Mortality Rate has been falling and currently stands at 1.09 per cent," the ministry said.
India's total active caseload has reached 35,66,398 and now comprises 16.92 per cent of the country's total infections.
A net incline of 79,169 cases recorded from the total active caseload in a span of 24 hours.
Twelve states cumulatively account for 81.05 per cent of India's total active cases, the ministry said.
The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 16.25 crore.
The ministry said 9,04,263 beneficiaries in the age group of 18-44 years received their first dose of COVID vaccine across 12 states and UTs.
These states are Chhattisgarh (1,026), Delhi (1,29,096), Gujarat (1,96,860), Jammu and Kashmir (16,387), Haryana (1,23,484), Karnataka (5,328), Maharashtra (1,53,966), Odisha (21,031), Punjab (1,535), Rajasthan (1,80,242), Tamil Nadu (6,415) and UP (68,893).
Cumulatively, 16,25,13,339 vaccine doses have been administered through 29,34,844 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 am.
These include 94,80,739 HCWs who have taken the first dose and 63,54,113 HCWs who have taken the second dose, 1,36,57,922 FLWs who have received the first dose and 74,25,592 FLWs who have taken the second dose and, 9,04,263 beneficiaries aged 18-44 who have taken the first dose.
Besides, 5,31,16,901 and 1,29,15,354 beneficiaries more than 60 years old have been administered the first and second dose respectively while 5,38,15,026 and 48,43,429 beneficiaries aged 45 to 60 have taken the first and second dose.
Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh account for 66.87 per cent of the cumulative doses given so far in the country, the ministry said.
More than 19 lakh vaccination doses were administered in a span of 24 hours.
As on Day-110 of the vaccination drive (May 5), 19,55,733 vaccine doses were given.
Across 15,903 sessions, 8,99,163 beneficiaries were vaccinated for the first dose and 10,56,570 beneficiaries received their second dose of vaccine.
India's cumulative recoveries stand at 1,72,80,844 with 3,29,113 recoveries being registered in a day.
Ten states account for 74.71 per cent of the new recoveries.