New Delhi: King George Medical College of Lucknow has confirmed two cases of Kappa variant of covid in Uttar Pradesh. The lesser-known variant was found during the genome sequencing of the samples of Covid-19 cases.
The State government told that 109 samples of covid 19 patients were collected for the genome sequencing, out of which 107 cases of Delta variant and 2 of kappa variant were found.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was informed about the variant in a review meeting on Thursday. A statement issued after the meeting said that the Kappa variant is no new in the country as several cases of this were also found in October 2020. It also informed that the state is focusing on genome sequencing to characterize the mutations in the deadly virus and track the disease outbreak.
About Kappa variant & its mutation
Kappa is not a new strain. First detected in October 2020 in India, the Kappa variant is a variant of interest and identified as B.1.617.1, as per the World Health Organization (WHO) website. Kappa variant was designated as a variant of interest around 5 months after its detection on April 4, 2021.
The Kappa variant is a double mutant with the same lineage as the Delta variant which is identified as B.1.617.1. Interestingly the Delta variant, discovered around the same time as Kappa, was declared a variant of interest on the same date of April 4. It was redesignated a variant of concern more than a month later on May 11.
As per Niti Aayog (Health) Member, the Kappa is a double mutant variant that is not declared as a variant of concern by the WHO yet. He also added that is the virus is just as much highly transmissible as that of the Delta plus variant, however it has been overshadowed by the other variants of covid in India in the past.
