MOSCOW, April 27. /TASS/. The World Health Organization is closely studying the new Indian coronavirus strain and methods of struggle against it, the WHO representative to Russia, Melita Vujnovic, told the round-the clock television news channel Rossiya-24 in an interview.
"Everything [the new Indian strain of the coronavirus and methods of struggle against it] is being closely studied by scientists in India and by the World Health Organization. All strains, all possible variants are being collected: those found in India and in some other countries. This is essential to understanding how dangerous this new variant and new mutation are," she said.
She stressed that the more widely spread the new strain was, the higher the risk of its mutation became, which made the researchers’ task more complex.
"The more cases there are, the greater the opportunities for the virus to mutate. Then we will never know what mutation has occurred. For this it is essential to achieve herd immunity as soon as possible," Vujnovic stressed.
At the end of March, India’s Health Ministry said a new variety of the coronavirus with mutations E484Q and L452R in the S protein had been identified. The existence of both mutations, which were earlier identified in other variants of the virus around the world, looks particularly alarming. These mutations are found in about 15%-20% samples and are absent from the British, South African and Brazilian strains.