Kathmandu, May 19
Weeks after a rapid surge in the number of Covid-19 cases in the country, the government of Nepal on Tuesday confirmed there were two new variants of the coronavirus spreading across the country of late.
Although the presence of these Indian variants was suspected for a long time now, Nepal was yet to confirm their presence officially. However, in the recent gene sequencing of 35 samples collected from Nepal, 34 were found to have the B.1.617.2 and one the B.1.617.1 variants, the Ministry of Health and Population informs in a statement on Tuesday.
The gene sequencing was done at the CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, India in coordination with the World Health Organization.
It is noted that the WHO has declared these two variants the variants of concern on May 10, 2021.
The ministry says both of these variants are found to be highly infective and vulnerable to all age groups, urging the public to maintain the highest level of precautions.
