India
oi-Madhuri Adnal
Hyderabad, June 4: Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, and CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), here, have collaboratively sequenced genomes of coronavirus variants in the temple town and adjoining areas.
Their study reports at least seven major strains of coronavirus circulating in these regions, a press release from the CCMB said on Friday.
The multi-disciplinary research unit headed at BHU collected samples from Varanasi and areas around the city, mostly in April 2021, it said.
The team at CCMB sequenced these samples and found out that there were at least seven major variants circulating in the region. As many as 130 samples were sequenced in this study.
Among the variants of concern (VoC), the most predominant variant we found in our study was B.1.617. This variant was also reported to be one of the major drivers of the second COVID-19 wave in the…