COVID-19 mutates to adapt to and survive in different situations, GBRC director said (Representational)

Researchers at the state government-run Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC) have succeeded in decoding the entire genome sequence of the novel coronavirus, and identified its three new mutations, officials said today.

Talking to reporters, the officials expressed confidence that the findings will help in developing medicines or vaccines needed to stop the spread of the deadly virus, which has wreaked havoc across the globe.

With this, the Gandhinagar-based GBRC has become the second institute in India after the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune to decode the entire genome sequence of the virus, they said.

"The Gujarat government-run GBRC has become the second institute after the Pune-based NIV to decode the entire genome sequence of COVID-19 virus. Many research institutes in the country are trying to do it," state Principal Secretary (Health) Jayanti Ravi told news agency Press Trust of India.

She said the breakthrough is a matter of pride for Gujarat.

"The first genome sequence of the COVID-19 virus was found by Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in Bejing on January 10. It was made public by China. After that, the GBRC has also done it here. It has found total nine mutations in its genome sequence," she said.

"However, six of the mutations were already found by other research institutes around the world. Three mutations, out of the total nine found by the GBRC, are new and it will help in determining how the virus is changing in our conditions," Ms Ravi added.

GBRC director Chaitanya Joshi said the virus mutates so as to survive in different conditions.

"We had taken the sample from a COVID-19 patient from here and worked on it," he told news agency PTI.

"The virus mutates in order to adapt to and survive in different situations. It mutates when medicines try to control it. This virus is mutating fast," he said.

"After establishing the genome sequence from one sample, our studies are on. We have collected around 100 samples from patients in different parts of Gujarat. We will analyse the genome in them and after that formulate a strategy to fight the virus," he said.

Mr Joshi said that finding out the genome sequence will help in developing medicines and vaccines to fight the virus.

"We will first try out different compounds in lab test on virus. Once effective compounds are found, we can take it forward for trials," he said.

"All living beings, be it humans, animals, plants or even viruses, their basic structure is found in the DNA or RNA. Many viruses have DNA or RNA (ribonucleic acid). This virus has RNA," he said.

The state government officials said that the genome sequence found out the GBRC will be shared with the scientific community.

World 3,07,76,433 Cases 88,03,048 Active 2,10,16,411 Recovered 9,56,974 Deaths Coronavirus has spread to 188 countries. The total confirmed cases worldwide are 3,07,76,433 and 9,56,974 have died; 88,03,048 are active cases and 2,10,16,411 have recovered as on September 20, 2020 at 9:40 am. India 54,00,619 92605 Cases 10,10,824 -3140 Active 43,03,043 94612 Recovered 86,752 1133 Deaths In India, there are 54,00,619 confirmed cases including 86,752 deaths. The number of active cases is 10,10,824 and 43,03,043 have recovered as on September 20, 2020 at 8:00 am. State & District Details State Cases Active Recovered Deaths Maharashtra District Cases Akola 757 Aurangabad 1974 Dhule 228 Jalgaon 1039 Mumbai 45478 Mumbai Suburban 5363 Nagpur 692 Nashik 1575 Palghar 1421 Pune 9920 Satara 629 Solapur 1291 Thane 13660 Yavatmal 150 Ahmednagar 190 Amravati 291 Beed 54 Bhandara 41 Buldhana 88 Chandrapur 32 Hingoli 208 Jalna 201 Kolhapur 646 Latur 139 Nanded 176 Nandurbar 42 Parbhani 78 Raigad 1462 Ratnagiri 350 Sangli 145 Gadchiroli 42 gondia 69 Osmanabad 125 Sindhudurg 114 Wardha 11 Washim 13 1188015 20519 297866 857933 23501 32216 425 Andhra Pradesh District Cases Chittoor 319 Guntur 511 Krishna 557 Kurnool 795 Sri Potti Sriramulu Nell* 296 Anantapur 428 East Godavari 356 Prakasam 104 Srikakulam 183 Visakhapatnam 103 West Godavari 199 Y.S.R. 205 Vizianagaram 23 617776 8218 81763 530711 10820 5302 58 Karnataka District Cases Bengaluru Rural 40 Bengaluru Urban 529 Mysuru 107 Bagalkote 103 Ballari 60 Belagavi 337 Bidar 219 Chikkaballapura 149 Dakshina Kannada 179 Dharwad 61 Gadag 45 Kalaburagi 669 Mandya 346 Tumakuru 36 Uttara Kannada 95 Vijayapura 201 Chamarajanagara 0 Chikkamagaluru 19 Chitradurga 14 Davangere 204 Hassan 205 Haveri 24 Kodagu 4 Kolar 29 Koppal 5 Raichur 369 Ramanagara 3 Shivamogga 67 Udupi 1176 Yadgir 538 511346 8364 98583 404841 10815 7922 114 Goa District Cases North Goa 57 South Goa 69 28022 643 5920 190 21760 446 342 7 Tamil Nadu District Cases Chengalpattu 1314 Chennai 23324 Kanchipuram 503 Madurai 322 Namakkal 83 Ranipet 133 Thanjavur 130 Thiruvallur 774 Thiruvarur 67 Tiruppur 116 Vellore 71 Virudhunagar 185 Ariyalur 444 Coimbatore 188 Cuddalore 477 Dharmapuri 15 Dindigul 175 Erode 75 Kallakurichi 324 Kanniyakumari 110 Karur 88 Nagapattinam 99 Perambalur 133 Pudukkottai 53 Ramanathapuram 119 Salem 258 Sivaganga 46 Tenkasi 103 The Nilgiris 17 Theni 129 Tiruchirappalli 119 Tirunelveli 433 Tirupathur 45 Tiruvannamalai 496 Tuticorin 333 Villupuram 509 Krishnagiri 43 536477 5569 46453 481273 5556 8751 66 Kerala District Cases Kannur 357 Kottayam 73 Alappuzha 76 Idukki 40 Kasaragod 333 Kollam 118 Kozhikode 90 Malappuram 119 Palakkad 224 Pathanamthitta 98 Thiruvananthapuram 104 Thrissur 106 Ernakulam 60 Wayanad 36 131005 4624 37535 1740 92951 2866 519 18 Chhattisgarh District Cases Raipur 46 Korba 100 Balod 41 Baloda Bazar 85 Balrampur 17 Bastar 2 Bemetara 21 Bijapur 2 Bilaspur 100 Dantewada 0 Dhamtari 6 Durg 31 Gariyaband 10 Janjgir-Champa 56 Jashpur 77 Kabirdham 52 Kanker 19 Kondagaon 0 Korea 39 Mahasamund 54 Mungeli 87 Narayanpur 0 Raigarh 47 Rajnandgaon 52 Sukma 0 Surajpur 9 Surguja 14 84234 2617 37489 909 46081 1689 664 19 Telangana District Cases Hyderabad 2475 MedchalMalkajgiri 75 Ranga Reddy 183 Suryapet 87 Vikarabad 40 Warangal Urban 32 Adilabad 22 Jagitial 77 Jangoan 8 Jayashankar Bhupalapally 9 Jogulamba Gadwal 40 Kamareddy 11 Karimnagar 17 Khammam 26 Kumuram Bheem Asifabad 8 Mahabubnagar 30 Mancherial 43 Medak 11 Nalgonda 33 Narayanpet 3 Nirmal 21 Nizamabad 76 RajannaSircilla 16 Sangareddy 26 Bhadradri Kothagudem 5 Mahabubabad 10 Mulugu 3 Nagarkurnool 8 Peddapalli 5 Siddipet 7 Wanaparthy 1 Warangal Rural 4 YadadriBhuvanagiri 40 171306 2137 30573 139700 2192 1033 8 Odisha District Cases Baleshwar 190 Bhadrak 137 Jajapur 322 Dhenkanal 36 Kalahandi 33 Kendrapara 164 Khordha 238 Koraput 16 Sundargarh 102 Anugul 26 Balangir 129 Bargarh 16 Boudh 34 Cuttack 155 Deogarh 33 Gajapati 61 Ganjam 581 Jagatsinghapur 91 Jharsuguda 8 Kandhamal 28 Kendujhar 34 Malkangiri 20 Mayurbhanj 73 Nabarangpur 2 Nayagarh 86 Nuapada 69 Puri 103 Rayagada 2 Sambalpur 16 Sonepur 29 175550 4209 33202 110 141657 4090 691 9 Madhya Pradesh District Cases Barwani 60 Bhopal 1880 Dewas 140 Dhar 132 East Nimar 266 Gwalior 211 Indore 3839 Jabalpur 276 Ujjain 799 Agar Malwa 15 Alirajpur 3 Betul 35 Burhanpur 351 Chhindwara 16 Dindori 29 Harda 4 Hoshangabad 37 Khargone 196 Mandsaur 112 Morena 109 Raisen 71 Ratlam 51 Sagar 228 Shajapur 39 Shandol 14 Sheopur 26 Tikamgarh 18 Vidisha 37 Anuppur 22 Ashoknagar 13 Balaghat 9 Bhind 87 Chhatarpur 35 Damoh 26 Datia 12 Guna 8 Jhabua 14 Katni 3 Mandla 15 Narsinghpur 17 Neemuch 319 Niwari 0 Panna 20 Rajgarh 31 Rewa 39 Satna 24 Sehore 12 Seoni 2 Shivpuri 15 Sidhi 17 Singrauli 13 Umaria 10 103065 2607 21964 359 79158 2206 1943 42 Gujarat District Cases Ahmadabad 17125 Anand 107 Arvalli 134 Banas Kantha 147 Bhavnagar 146 Gandhinagar 410 PanchMahals 107 Surat 2311 Vadodara 1555 Bharuch 56 Botad 55 Chhotaudepur 37 Dang 5 Dohad 43 GirSomnath 45 Jamnagar 63 Kachchh 99 Kheda 98 Mahesana 159 Mahisagar 125 Narmada 25 Naysari 35 Patan 105 Rajkot 135 SabarKantha 101 Surendranagar 55 Tapi 6 Valsad 47 Amreli 16 DevbhumiDwarka 22 Junagadh 31 Morbi 4 Porbandar 11 121768 1432 16022 102444 1470 3302 16 Rajasthan District Cases Ajmer 379 Banswara 91 Bharatpur 563 Jaipur 2177 Jhalawar 329 Jodhpur 1748 Kota 503 Nagaur 500 Alwar 90 Barmer 34 Bhilwara 250 Bikaner 112 Chittorgarh 188 Churu 81 Dausa 61 Dholpur 60 Dungarpur 374 Hanumangarh 31 Jaisalmer 53 Jhunjhunu 64 Karauli 17 Pali 352 Rajsamand 140 SawaiMadhopur 26 Sikar 231 Tonk 171 Udaipur 724 Baran 59 Bundi 5 Ganganagar 8 Jalore 164 Pratapgarh 14 Sirohi 130 113124 1834 17997 280 93805 1540 1322 14 Haryana District Cases Faridabad 867 Sonipat 404 Ambala 93 Bhiwani 60 CharkiDadri 43 Fatehabad 38 Gurugram 2950 Hisar 98 Jhajjar 114 Jind 38 Kaithal 48 Karnal 104 Kurukshetra 55 Nuh 68 Palwal 120 Panchkula 39 Panipat 78 Rohtak 145 Sirsa 50 Yamunanagar 19 Mahendragarh 47 Rewari 56 108952 2691 21682 391 86150 2272 1120 28 Uttar Pradesh District Cases Agra 933 Aligarh 215 Amroha 80 Bareilly 17 Bijnor 157 Bulandshahr 166 Firozabad 190 Gautam Buddha Nagar 1119 Kanpur Nagar 286 Lucknow 386 Mathura 129 Meerut 504 Moradabad 252 Muzaffarnagar 117 Rae Bareli 78 Rampur 203 Saharanpur 298 Sant Kabeer Nagar 132 Varanasi 243 Auraiya 37 Ayodhya 120 Azamgarh 138 Baghpat 68 Bahraich 73 Balrampur 49 Banda 27 Basti 214 Bhadohi 60 Budaun 23 Etah 52 Etawah 46 Ghaziabad 794 Ghazipur 159 Gonda 59 Gorakhpur 166 Hapur 225 Hardoi 49 Jalaun 41 Jaunpur 194 Jhansi 41 Kannauj 69 Kasganj 16 Kaushambi 6 Mainpuri 46 Mau 48 Mirzapur 22 Pilibhit 15 Pratapgarh 15 Prayagraj 30 Sambhal 116 Shamli 40 Shravasti 23 Sitapur 32 Sultanpur 97 Unnao 42 Ambedkar Nagar 92 Amethi 206 Ballia 60 Barabanki 168 Chandauli 38 Chitrakoot 4 Deoria 143 Farrukhabad 36 Fatehpur 3 Hamirpur 3 Hathras 43 Kanpur Dehat 4 Kheri 72 Kushi Nagar 67 Lalitpur 3 Maharajganj 85 Mahoba 3 Shahjahanpur 25 Siddharth Nagar 159 Sonbhadra 10 348517 5729 66874 276690 6596 4953 84 Delhi District Cases Central 4817 East 2472 New Delhi 3405 North 3059 North East 1914 North West 5463 Shahdara 1580 South 2329 South East 2446 South West 2391 West 4768 242899 4071 32064 205890 4219 4945 38 Assam District Cases Dhubri 30 Goalpara 19 Marigaon 50 Baksa 14 Barpeta 28 Biswanath 16 Bongaigaon 12 Cachar 80 Charaideo 29 Chirang 6 Darrang 20 Dhemaji 47 Dibrugarh 61 Dima Hasao 86 Golaghat 203 Hailakandi 57 Hojai 89 Jorhat 24 Kamrup 42 Kamrup Metro 276 KarbiAnglong 13 Karimganj 85 Kokrajhar 37 Lakhimpur 57 Majuli 2 Nagaon 143 Nalbari 23 Sivasagar 20 Sonitpur 27 South SalmaraMancachar 4 Tinsukia 84 Udalguri 28 West KarbiAnglong 5 155453 2595 29362 731 125543 1856 548 8 Sikkim District Cases East District 3 North District 0 South District 3 West District 0 2423 120 426 4 1972 115 25 1 Bihar District Cases Buxar 134 Gaya 115 Munger 188 Patna 279 Rohtas 256 Arwal 52 Aurangabad 75 Banka 134 Begusarai 243 Bhagalpur 266 Bhojpur 103 Darbhanga 143 Gopalganj 123 Jehanabad 178 Kaimur (bhabua) 105 Lakhisarai 72 Madhepura 82 Madhubani 199 Nalanda 123 Nawada 122 PurbiChamparan 138 Purnia 135 Saran 101 Siwan 139 Vaishali 87 Araria 68 Jamui 47 Katihar 175 Khagaria 253 Kishanganj 75 Muzaffarpur 96 Pashchim Champaran 57 Saharsa 88 Samastipur 139 Sheikhpura 118 Sheohar 20 Sitamarhi 73 Supaul 87 166788 1570 12629 20 153298 1548 861 2 West Bengal District Cases 24 Paraganas North 1031 24 Paraganas South 281 Darjeeling 97 Howrah 1435 Jalpaiguri 88 Kalimpong 18 Kolkata 2777 Maldah 235 Medinipur East 153 Medinipur West 159 Hooghly 604 Murshidabad 125 Nadia 139 Paschim Bardhaman 70 Purba Bardhaman 130 Alipurduar 39 Bankura 116 Birbhum 206 Coochbehar 210 Dinajpur Dakshin 50 Dinajpur Uttar 216 Jhargram 9 Purulia 66 221960 3188 24648 139 193014 2993 4298 56 Andaman And Nicobar Islands District Cases South Andamans 33 Nicobars 1 North And Middle Andaman 1 3644 13 156 3436 22 52 Puducherry District Cases Pondicherry 111 Karaikal 2 Mahe 4 Yanam 0 22456 543 4785 49 17209 494 462 Arunachal Pradesh District Cases Anjaw 0 Changlang 31 Dibang Valley 0 East Kameng 0 East Siang 1 Kamle 0 KraDaadi 0 KurungKumey 0 Leparada 0 Lohit 3 Longding 0 Lower Dibang Valley 0 Lower Siang 0 Lower Subansiri 0 Namsai 2 PakkeKessang 1 Papum Pare 8 Shi Yomi 0 Siang 0 Tawang 1 Tirap 0 Upper Siang 1 Upper Subansiri 0 West Kameng 0 West Siang 1 7250 245 1957 71 5280 174 13 Nagaland District Cases Dimapur 20 Kiphire 3 Kohima 7 Longleng 0 Mokokchung 0 Mon 8 Peren 2 Phek 1 Tuensang 3 Wokha 0 Zunheboto 0 5392 35 1206 4171 42 15 Dadra And Nagar Haveli District Cases Dadra And Nagar Haveli 20 2887 28 208 2677 38 2 Jharkhand District Cases Ranchi 148 Bokaro 16 Deoghar 5 Dhanbad 32 Garhwa 80 Giridih 19 Hazaribagh 110 Jamtara 2 Koderma 58 Simdega 48 Chatra 1 Dumka 5 East Singhbum 170 Godda 2 Gumla 28 Khunti 10 Latehar 14 Lohardaga 8 Pakur 4 Palamu 27 Ramgarh 75 Sahebganj 0 SaraikelaKharsawan 20 West Singhbhum 21 69860 1282 13548 55697 1645 615 13 Tripura District Cases Gomati 74 North Tripura 14 Dhalai 196 Khowai 24 Sepahijala 174 South Tripura 53 Unakoti 49 West Tripura 45 22032 548 6983 14810 668 239 4 Ladakh District Cases Kargil 77 LehLadakh 43 3708 73 993 6 2666 66 49 1 Jammu And Kashmir District Cases Anantnag 395 Bandipora 175 Shopian 255 Srinagar 300 Baramulla 271 Budgam 110 Ganderbal 37 Jammu 138 Kathua 53 Kulgam 295 Kupwara 231 Rajouri 39 Ramban 151 Reasi 26 Samba 25 Udhampur 155 Mirpur 0 Muzaffarabad 0 Doda 27 Kishtwar 10 Poonch 35 Pulwama 108 62533 1492 21281 511 40265 960 987 21 Himachal Pradesh District Cases Chamba 29 Hamirpur 117 Kangra 105 Sirmaur 11 Solan 32 Una 41 Bilaspur 21 Kinnaur 2 Kullu 4 Lahaul And Spiti 0 Mandi 21 Shimla 10 11908 286 4308 7484 403 116 5 Punjab District Cases Jalandhar 297 Ludhiana 293 Patiala 132 Amritsar 485 Barnala 25 Faridkot 74 Firozepur 50 Gurdaspur 154 Hoshiarpur 140 Kapurthala 44 Mansa 31 Moga 65 Pathankot 86 S.A.S Nagar 137 Sangrur 107 Shahid Bhagat Singh Nagar (Nawanshahr) 99 Sri Muktsar Sahib 71 Tarn Taran 163 Bathinda 60 Fatehgarh Sahib 57 Fazilka 53 Rupnagar (Ropar) 74 95529 2696 22399 737 70373 1910 2757 49 Uttarakhand District Cases Haridwar 94 Dehradun 370 Nainital 323 Almora 71 Bageshwar 31 Chamoli 36 Champawat 45 PauriGarhwal 36 Pithoragarh 43 Rudraprayag 30 Tehri Garhwal 110 Udam Singh Nagar 83 Uttar Kashi 24 40085 2078 12465 1172 27142 892 478 14 Manipur District Cases Bishnupur 7 Chandel 5 Churachandpur 32 Imphal East 10 Imphal West 21 Jiribam 3 Kakching 2 Kamjong 5 Kangpokpi 26 Noney 1 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