The findings of the study become significant as in many parts of the world, mutant variants of the virus are causing a new surge in COVID-19 cases. The current increase in the number of infections in some Indian states may also be due to the presence of virus variants, it is feared

The vaccines currently approved for emergency use in India are Covishield, from the Oxford-AstraZeneca stable manufactured by Pune's Serum Institute of India, and Covaxin, developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Virology (NIV)

Scientists are working with an anti-viral coating technology called DiOX, which uses organic disinfectant compounds in the textiles, says report

The research, published in the journal Nature Medicine, noted that the vaccine is effective against coronavirus variants carrying the N501Y and E484K mutations

Oxford University scientists who developed the ChAdOx1-nCoV19 vaccine have found that it remains effective against at least one of the new variants of the disease, called the B.1.1.7 'Kent' coronavirus strain

Out of the millions of cases around the world, one coronavirus case has stood out. The case is of a 45-year-old Covid-19 patient from Boston who died last summer after fighting for 154 days of illness--one of the longest on record

Brazil's Health Ministry said it has been notified by Japan's authorities that the new variant has 12 mutations, and one of them has already been identified in the variants found in the UK and South Africa

Scientists say the new South African variant has multiple mutations in the important \"spike\" protein that the virus uses to infect human cells

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan slammed senior Congress party leaders Shashi Tharoor and Jairam Ramesh, and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav for politicising the 'critical issue'

Coronavirus pandemic: In December, the UK government reported a variant, which was referred to as SARS-CoV-2 VOC 202012/01. This variant is not phylogenetically related to the SARS-CoV-2 virus

The SEC has recommended Covaxin for emergency use authorisation; the recommendation, along with rollout modalities, will now be taken up by the DCGI for a final decision on the matter

Fauci's remarks came during an online discussion of the pandemic with California Governor Gavin Newsom, who announced at the outset that a highly infectious coronavirus variant originally found in Britain has been detected in his state

CSIR-CCMB in Hyderabad, which is among the ten research institutes tracing the new Covid-19 strain in India, says the new strain has not worsened the Covid-19 symptoms so far in India but there's a need to keep a tab on other new variants that might emerge

It is important from the scientific community perspective that we do not put too much immune pressure on the virus, said Bhargava

Bharat Biotech MD also said the company has approached regulatory authorities seeking approval for an emergency license to use the vaccine, developed in collaboration with ICMR and the National Institute of Virology and now undergoing phase 3 trials

Until now, six individuals have shown traces of the new variant of coronavirus in India. All these individuals have been kept under isolation in designated health care facilities by respective state governments. Their close contacts have also been put under quarantine

New coronavirus strain: Close contacts of the passengers have also been put under quarantine. Authorities have initiated contact tracing for co-travellers, family contacts and others

COVID-19 surveillance, containment guidelines to persist until Jan 31 Despite the declining trend in new COVID-19 cases, Centre on Monday issued an order to extend the 'Guidelines for Surveillance' until January 31 next year. The surveillance guidelines mandate states and union territories (UTs) to follow containment measures, as well as to maintain surveillance. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued the new order, justifying the need for surveillance despite a decline in the rate of po...

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued the new order, justifying the need for surveillance despite a decline in the rate of positive COVID-19 cases owing to the new mutation of the virus found in the UK

Dr Anthony Fauci endorsed the decision of US officials to require negative COVID-19 tests before letting people from Britain enter the US