SHILLONG, June 2: Health Minister, AL Hek has revealed that several cases of the UK variant of COVID-19, renamed as Alpha, have been confirmed in the state.
A senior health official said that they had received the test report on the genome sequencing of coronavirus in Meghalaya to study mutations from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Wednesday.
“The test report of these samples will be analysed by the government. About 97 samples were confirmed to be infected with the UK variant,” the official informed.
The department had sent 100 samples to the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics in Kalyani, Kolkata and another 100 samples to the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad.
The variant, first identified in India, technically known as B.1.617.2, will now be described as Delta while the UK variant will be referred to as Alpha, a note from the World Health Organization said on Monday.
Speaking to media persons here on Wednesday, Hek said that the Principal Secretary of the Health department has informed him that several cases of the mutated UK variant have been reported in East Khasi Hills district and some other parts of the state.
“This variant is highly infectious and we should take precautions,” Hek cautioned.
WHO has also warned that only one strain of the COVID-19 Delta variant, first detected in India, is now considered “of concern”, while two other strains have been downgraded.
Earlier, Hek also expressed concern over the high rate of COVID-19 cases in rural areas in the second wave.
Asked about the infrastructure, he said the government needs to strengthen the existing health system rather than investing in new infrastructure.
“We are enhancing our manpower,” the minister said while admitting that the state is suffering from a shortage of pathologists and microbiologists.
