New, highly infectious variant of SARS-CoV-2 also detected in Nepal

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Issuing a press statement on Tuesday evening, the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) informed that a new strain of the virus was detected in the nation.

“In the gene sequencing done in coordination with the World Health Organisation (WHO) by collecting 35 swab samples from various parts of the nation last week, a new B.1.617.2 variant was detected in 97 per cent of the samples,” informed the Health Ministry.

The B.1.617.1 variant was detected in the rest of the three per cent samples.

On May 10, the WHO had declared the new variant as the worldwide variant of concern.

Currently, there are three variants of coronavirus in Nepal, including the newly mutated strain.

Stating that the new variant was deadlier and infectious to all age groups, the ministry urged everyone to remain alert, responsible, and strictly abide by the public health standards.

The gene sequencing was carried out at the CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology in India.