Georgia reports 18 cases of Indian Covid-19 variant

Georgia has reported 18 cases of Indian variant of Covid-19, the Deputy Head of the National Centre for Disease Control Paata Imnadze said today.

There are 18 laboratory-confirmed cases of Indian strain, which means that the Indian variant of Covid-19 has started to spread in Georgia”, said Imnadze.

Georgia reported the first five cases of Indian strain on May 27.

The coronavirus variant, which was first detected in India, has now been officially recorded in over 53 territories worldwide.

• Georgia tightens entry rules for Indian visitors due to pandemic

As of now there are four mutations classed of Covid-19 as variants of concern: those first reported in Britain, South Africa, Brazil and India.

WHO Europe Director Hans Kluge said during a news briefing on May 20 that authorised vaccines in the US and Europe ‘appear to be effective against variants of the disease’.

A study by Public Health England found that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 88 per cent effective against symptomatic disease from the Indian variant two weeks after the second dose, while two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were 60 per cent effective against symptomatic disease from the Indian variant.