‘Highly Infectious’ UK Strain Of COVID-19 Found In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Three among the recent COVID19 cases in Odisha were found to be carrying the UK strain, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Director Dr Sujeet Kumar Singh informed on Wednesday.

It is for the first time that the highly contagious new variant of the coronavirus found in the UK has been detected in the state. It could ring an alarm bell for Odisha which is already witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Singh told the media that 771 variants of concerns (VOCs) of COVID-19, including a new double mutant variant, have been detected in 10,787 positive samples shared by the states and union territories.

“These include 736 samples positive for viruses of the UK (B.1.1.7) lineage. 34 samples were found positive for viruses of the South African (B.1.351) lineage. 1 sample was found positive for viruses of the Brazilian (P.1) lineage,” he said.

The samples with these VOCs have been identified in 18 states of the country.