At least three different variants of Covid-19 have been newly detected from 75 Covid-19 patients in Mizoram, a health department official said on Wednesday.
State nodal officer and official spokesperson on Covid-19 Dr. Pachuau Lalmalsawma said that 73 cases of highly transmissible India’s Delta variant (B.1.617.2), and one each case of United Kingdom’s Alpha (B.1.1.7) and Eta(B.1.525) were found from 100 samples through whole-genome sequencing.
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The samples were sent to the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG), Kalyani in West Bengal in June this year, he said.
“Of the 100 samples, 73 were found to be Delta variant of Covid-19, one Alpha variant and another Eta variant of Covid-19,” he said.
Of the 73 cases of Delta variant, 56 were reported from Aizawl district, 9 from Lunglei district, 5 from Kolasib district and 3 from Serchhip district, he said.
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Both Alpha and Eta variants were reported from Aizawl district, he said.
He said that 70 samples from Aizawl district and 10 each from Lunglei, Kolasib and Serchhip districts were collected and sent to NIBMG for genome sequencing last month.
Earlier on June 18, Mizoram had reported four cases of Delta variants from 217 samples sent in April.
However, all four patients from Aizawl district have been fully recovered from the infections.
According to Pachuau, at least 69 samples were sent for whole-genome sequencing to NIBMG in March, 217 samples in April and 100 in June.
Besides, 150 more samples were sent on July 15 and the results are awaited.
He said the government is making massive efforts to find out the presence of any other variant of Covid-19 in the state.
He also urged people to be cautious and strictly follow the advice of experts as different Covid-19 variants could already be present in other parts of the state.
Quoting a study, Pachuau said Eta variant is more dangerous than other variants as 69 per cent of the infected patients usually require treatment at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
The mortality rate among patients infected with Delta variant is 0.1 percent, 2 per cent for Alpha variant and 2.7 per cent for Eta variant, he said.