Government says Coronavirus in India has shown no major mutation and its vaccine will not be affected

Prime Minister’s Office in a statement said, two Pan India studies on the Genome of SARSCoV-2 (Covid-19 virus) in India conducted by Indian Council of Medical Research and Department of Bio-Technology suggest that the virus is genetically stable and there is no major mutation in the virus. The PMO said, Coronavirus vaccine will not be affected as no major mutation was in the virus.

The meeting was attended by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister, NITI Aayog member, Principal Scientific Advisor, senior scientists, officers of PMO, and other government departments.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health has said that India has exponentially scaled up its testing capacity from one in January to more than 9.32 crore at present. In a tweet this morning, the Ministry said, the very high testing has resulted in the continuous falling positivity rate and it has now fallen below 8 per cent. It said, very comprehensive testing has thus worked as a highly effective tool to curb the spread of COVID19 infection. The Health Ministry said it also leads to early identification, prompt isolation and effective treatment of COVID19 cases, and eventual low Fatality Rate. (With inputs from AIR)