The Ministry of Health and Population has said that three additional variants of coronavirus have been detected in the country while urging all stakeholders to remain sensitive for the prevention and control of infection.
The Ministry has said that 47 samples collected at the National Public Health Laboratory from different age groups were sent to New Delhi-based WHO identified Centre for Excellence in Genomics, the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), for sequencing. To this, all 47 samples had Delta variant (B.1.617.2) in the genomic sequencing and three of them had a new variant called K417N mutation.
With this, Nepal has Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) and Delta variant (B.1.617.2) invariant of concern while Kappa variant (B.1.617.1) in the form of a variant of interest, the Ministry's Assistant Spokesperson Dr Samir Kumar Adhikari said in a press statement today.
It is said that all these variants are found to be more infectious and could impact people of all ages.
