Mizoram reports Delta variant of COVID-19

Delta variant of COVID-19 has been reported in four people of Mizoram. The new variant was confirmed by National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Friday.

Aizawl:Mizoram has reported for the first time four cases of highly transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19. The Delta variant has been detected in four men, all from Aizawl district, whose samples were sent along with others to National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG) in West Bengal, state's spokesperson on COVID-19 Dr Pachuau Lalmalsawma told media.

The patients are in the age group of 18-45 years, he said. The new variant was confirmed by National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Friday, he said. According to him, three of the four patients had travel history, while one had locally contracted the infection.

All the patients have fully recovered from COVID-19, he said. Pachuau, who is also the state nodal officer of Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), said that samples were intermittently sent to NIBMG for whole-genome sequencing. About 100 more samples will also be sent for whole genome sequencing very soon, he added.

Read:Less than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases after 2 months in Bengaluru

Meanwhile, a 40-year-old man from Kolasib district succumbed to COVID-19 at Zoram Medical College (ZMC) on Friday, which took the death toll to 76, official sources said.

The victim was diagnosed with COVID-19 on June 2 and was shifted from a COVID-19 Care Centre to ZMC on June 8, it said.

Mizoram on Friday reported 302 COVID-19 cases, taking the state's tally to 16,437. The state now has 3,593 active COVID-19 cases, while 12,768 people have recovered from the infection, including 138 people on Friday. The COVID-19 recovery rate now is 77.67 per cent and death rate is 0.46 per cent.

PTI