Covaxin, a vaccine candidate being developed by Bharat Biotech for COVID-19, can offer protection against mutations of coronavirus, Chairman and Managing Director of the city-based vaccine maker Krishna Ella said on Tuesday.

Ella said the company has approached regulatory authorities seeking approval for an emergency license to use the vaccine, developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Virology and now undergoing phase 3 trials.

“It (coronavirus) is expected to have a lot of mutation and you can be rest assured this vaccine will also protect against that (mutated) virus because of two hypotheses...

“So you have these two components in the inactivated vaccine. It will also take care of those mutations,” Ella said during a virtual programme organised by CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology.

He said while replying to a query posed on the new strain of coronavirus that was detected in the United Kingdom recently.

Ella said mutation was not unexpected and the virus mutates on its own to reach more number of people as it is a non-living organism.

The executive said Covaxin, now undergoing Phase 3 trials involving about 20,000 volunteers, balances both safety and efficacy.

The news raises hope, especially when reports of newer strain of virus being detected is making it to the headlines.

Six people who returned to India from the UK have tested positive for the new mutated strain of coronavirus, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

The presence of the new UK variant of the coronavirus has already been reported by Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore so far.