Indian pharma company Bharat Biotech has announced that its indigenously Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin, produced neutralising titres (concentration) against all key emerging variants tested, including the B.1.617 and B.1.1.7, first found in India and the United Kingdom. The company, in an infographic showed, a modest reduction in neutralisation by a factor of 1.95 was seen against the B.1.617 variant compared to the vaccine variant (D614G), said a Hindustan Times report.

It added that though there was reduction, neutralizing titre levels with B.1.617 did not fall and were detected above levels expected to be protective.

"No difference in neutralization between B.1.1.7 (first found in the UK) and vaccine strain (D614G) was observed," Bharat Biotech added.

These findings were revealed in collaboration with National Institute of Virology - India Council of Medical Research, IBNS said. 

Covaxin is indigenously developed and manufactured in India and is one of the three Covid-19 vaccines that are currently available in the country, the other two being Astra Zeneca, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, andRussia's Sputnik V. As per the Union Health Ministry, a total of 180 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been given across the country so far - still a small drop in a population of 1.36 billion people.

India reported a slight dip in the Covid cases with 311,000 fresh infections in the last 24 hours. A total of 4,077 deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of fatalities to 270,000.