Another infectious COVID-19 variant - VOC detected in Meghalaya: AL Hek
Meghalaya Health Minister A.L. Hek on Thursday informed that the highly infectious COVID-19 Variant of Concern (VOC) has been detected in Meghalaya, and the threat of rapid spread is very high.
Referring to the COVID Variant of Concern (VOC), he warned that the infection has a very high transmission efficiency.
“COVID variants are detected in Meghalaya. So we need to inform the public to be cautious and to protect themselves at all times. This variant is from the United Kingdom, and it spreads fast, posing as a danger,” he said.
Hek further informed that the number of patients affected with the COVID variant of concern in the state has not been discovered yet.
Earlier, seeing a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases, the government of Meghalaya had extended the ongoing lockdown till June 7.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday assigned simple labels to key variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) settled on letters of the Greek alphabet to refer to the variants discovered in different parts of the world since the beginning of the pandemic.
The UN health agency named the B.1.617.1 variant of the Covid-19 as 'Kappa' while the B1.617.2 variant was dubbed 'Delta.' Both the variants have been discovered in India.
Besides, WHO is yet to assign labels for variants designated as Variant of Interest (VOI) and Variant of Concern (VOC).
(Edited by Ridhika Joshi)
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