The mutant coronavirus strain that originated in South Africa has been detected in four people in India, while the variant from Brazil has been found in one person, Indian Council of Medical Research Director General Balram Bhargava said on Tuesday, according to ANI.

As many as 187 people have been detected with the United Kingdom strain of Covid-19, Bhargava said, adding that the contacts of all these people have been tested and quarantined. He also said that the South African and Brazilian variant were different from the UK one and that experiments were underway to assess the effectiveness of vaccines on them.

Speaking at the same press briefing, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that the total number of vaccines administered in the country stood at 87,40,595, of which 1,70,678 were second doses given to beneficiaries, PTI reported. Bhushan said that 14 states and Union Territories had covered more than 70% of healthcare workers as far as the first dose of the vaccine was concerned, while eight states had given second dose to over 60% of them.

The health secretary said that the number of active cases showed a steady trend of decline and stood at less than 1.40 lakh currently. He said that the two states of Kerala and Maharashtra with 61,550 and 37,383 active cases, respectively, accounted for 72% of the total active cases in the country.

Meanwhile, India on Tuesday recorded 9,121 new coronavirus cases, taking its tally to 1,09,25,710. This was the fourth time this month when the daily infections fell below 10,000. The toll rose by 81 to 1,55,813.