India detects new 'double mutant variant' of novel coronavirus

New Delhi: India has detected a new "double mutant variant" of the novel coronavirus, the health ministry said on Wednesday, adding to concern as the government struggles with the highest single-day tally of new infections and deaths this year.

Genome sequencing and analysis of samples from Maharashtra state found mutations in the virus that do not match previously catalogued "variants of concern" (VOC), the ministry said in a statement.

Maharashtra is one of India's worst-affected states but the ministry said it was not clear if the new variant was causing an upsurge there or in other states.

"Though VOCs and a new double mutant variant have been found in India, these have not been detected in numbers sufficient to either establish a direct relationship or explain the rapid increase in cases in some states," the ministry said in a statement.

It did not elaborate.

India has already reported several cases of a variant first detected in Britain, as well as ones first found in South Africa and Brazil.

India recorded 47,262 fresh coronavirus cases in a day, the highest single-day rise so far this year, taking the nationwide COVID-19 tally to 11,734,058, the Union health ministry said on Wednesday.

The active caseload registered an increased for the 14th day in a row and was recorded at 368,457, comprising 3.14 per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate further dropped to 95.49 per cent, the ministry data updated at 8 am said.

The daily rise in infections was the highest recorded in 132 days, while the country's COVID-19 death toll increased to 160,441, with 275 new fatalities, the highest in around 83 days.

As many as 47,905 new infections were recorded in a span of 24 hours on November 12 last year, it said.

Out of the 275 new fatalities, 132 deaths were reported from Maharashtra, 53 from Punjab, 20 from Chhattisgarh and 10 from Kerala.

The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.