Amid the threat of new COVID variant C.1.2, which has been detected in South Africa and many other countries globally, the Union health ministry on Wednesday clarified that no case of this variant has been detected in India so far.

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A new study has revealed that the new COVID-19 variant C.1.2 could be more transmissible and evade protection provided by vaccines. The scientists from National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (KRISP) in South Africa said the potential variant of interest was first detected in the country in May this year.

The government has clarified that 'No case of new COVID variant C.1.2 has been detected in India so far. The Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology has been put on alert in this regard for detection'. Meanwhile, the WHO has said that to date there are 100 sequences of C.1.2. reported globally. From the earliest report in May from South Africa and currently, it does not appear to be increasing in circulation.

The scientists in the study said that this COVID variant has been found in China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mauritius, the UK, New Zealand, Portugal and Switzerland as of August 13. The scientists found a consistent increase in the number of C.1.2 genomes in South Africa each month.