During routine surveillance by the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium, the sub-strain of COVID-19 that is currently spreading in the US and China has been detected in Kerala.
According to ICMR Director General Dr. Rajeev Bahal, the new strain was detected on December 8 in an RT-PCR sample from Karakulam in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The sample was confirmed to be infected with Covid during an RT-PCR test on November 18.
There has been a trend of increasing number of COVID-19 cases from Kerala in the last few weeks. Based on that situation, the health authorities of the country are paying attention to how the spread of this new disease will happen.
Although the number of COVID-19 cases around the world has been generally low this year, a slight increase has been noted in early December, according to reports maintained by the World Health Organization (WHO).