India coronavirus: Punjab finds 81% of its cases are UK variant amid reports of vaccine shortage

The Indian government has announced that those over the age of 45 can get vaccinated from 1 April

A medical worker prepares to inoculate a man with a Covid-19 vaccine at a hospital in Amritsar on 1 March, 2021 (AFP via Getty Images)

In the northern Indian state of Punjab, 81 per cent of the 401 samples sent for genome sequencing turned out positive for the UK variant of Covid-19, a government expert has said.

Dr KK Talwar, head of the state Covid expert committee, said the results were “worrying” as they showed the presence of the UK variant B.1.1.7 in 326 samples. 

The UK variant is up to 70 per cent more transmissible, which means that it can be passed on more easily between people than the previously dominant variant, the Boris Johnson government has said. 

After being informed of the situation, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh urged people to get vaccinated and requested prime minister Narendra Modi to allow inoculation for those below 60 years of age.

Mr Singh said that the Covishield vaccine developed by AstraZeneca-Oxford and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, was effective against the UK variant of the virus. 

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The Indian government on Tuesday widened the ambit of its vaccination programme, announcing that those over the age of 45 can get the shot from 1 April. 

A study last month showed that the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine delivered similar levels of protection against the British variant compared to the original form of the virus. 

The findings about the presence of UK variant in Punjab comes amid reports of vaccine shortages in the eastern state of Odisha. 

In a letter to the ministry of health and family welfare, Odisha’s additional chief secretary for health PK Mohapatra warned that the state only has enough doses to run its vaccination campaign till 30 March. 

“We will have no vaccines for 4 days. Hence, adequate doses of Covishield vaccine may be supplied in time so as to continue uninterrupted vaccination drive in our state. Your urgent attention is drawn to the above issue,” he said in the letter, Reuters reported. 

The state is expecting another batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine on 2 April.

However, the central government insisted on Tuesday that enough vaccines are available and there is no scarcity. India has recorded 11.69 million cases of coronavirus and 160,166 deaths since the start of the pandemic. 

Till now, the Indian government has administered 48 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine across the country and shipped 60 million doses to as many as 76 nations.

Prime Minister Modi and health officials last week expressed concerns over more than two million doses of Covid-19 vaccine going to waste. They said about 6.5 per cent of all doses delivered to the front line have been wasted.