Four cases with the South Africa variant of SARS-CoV-2 have been detected in January in India, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said on Tuesday

The South Africa strain has been detected in four returnees - one from Angola, one from Tanzania, and two from South Africa, the ICMR said.

All travellers and contacts have been tested and quarantined.

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“The ICMR-NIV is attempting to isolate and culture the South Africa variant strain from the samples of these four individual returnees," ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava said.

ICMR DG Dr Bhargava also said that a case of a Brazilian variant of SARS-CoV-2 was detected in the first week of February.

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“One Brazil returnee has tested positive for the Brazil variant of SARS-CoV-2 in the first week of February. The traveller and contacts have been tested and quarantined,” ICMR DG Dr Balram Bhargava said.

Bhargava also informed that as many as 187 people have tested positive for the UK variant in India.