Variants: is the Indian “double mutant” already present in Europe?

After the one that appeared in South Africa and the strain that emerged in South Africa, it is an “Indian variant” that is causing concern among scientists today. If the local authorities deny any link between its appearance and the outbreak of the epidemic which notably led to the reconfiguration of the 20 million inhabitants of New Delhi for a week, some countries have already prohibited access to travelers in from India.

This is particularly the case of the United Kingdom, which allows access to its territory only to British residents, on condition that they observe a quarantine at the hotel at their expense. So, should we fear that this strain described as “double mutant” will sweep over Europe? Is she already there?

If no case of this “Indian variant” has so far been detected in France, this is not the case on the scale of the continent where contaminations have indeed been reported, in the United Kingdom precisely, but also in Ireland, Germany, Italy, Spain and Belgium. However, there is no need to worry as far as the statistics related to this strain recorded in these different countries currently represent less than 1% of cases.

Nevertheless, the evolution of the number of cases in the United Kingdom, where a massive and open sequencing policy is practiced, could be a source of information. Or even foreshadowing of what could happen in Europe like a few months ago concerning the “English variant”? According to the progression curves of the variants recorded in the United Kingdom, compared to the “South African strain” and the “Brazilian strain”, it is in fact the “Indian variant” which is currently increasing most exponentially.

As a benchmark, in the past seven days, India has recorded more than 1.4 million new cases of coronavirus, an increase of 64% from the previous week, according to data compiled by AFP. For some observers, the explanation may be found in the circulation of this new local variant.