Non-judicious use of medicines and other therapies to treat covid-19 may make the virus resistant to them, which in turn could cause mutations in it, said Indian Council of Medical Research ( ICMR ) director general Balram Bhargava . Otherwise, they would put a tremendous pressure on the virus and the virus will tend to mutate more," Bhargava said at a press conference on Tuesday. The UK variant of the virus has come under particular attention as multiple mutations have been observed in the genetic sequence of its spike protein. The spike protein mutations found in UK have been shown to allow the virus to attach more easily with the human cells, and thus increase its transmission between humans by up to 70%. The new UK variant has already been reported by Denmark, Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon, and Singapore.

Source: Mint December 29, 2020 16:08 UTC