Resource KT
Related Articles
Nitin Jain
Tribune press service
Ludhiana, June 18
Finally, Delta defeated Alpha Covid variant of concern (VoC) by recording more than 89% of cases in May, the government confirmed.
Following the national trend, the Indian VoC (B.1.617), which has been dubbed Delta, has started spreading its tentacles in the Punjab, official figures have revealed.
Figures compiled by the Department of Health and Family Welfare, which are available from The Tribune, showed that of the total of 138 whole genome sequencing (WGS) samples processed from the Punjab in May, the VoCs were detected in all of them, which represents 100% positive results, and which gives rise to many concerns.
Breakdown by variant exposed that the Delta variant was found in 123 samples, which represented 89.1%, 11 B.1, representing 8%, three Alpha 2.2% and one sample tested positive for B.1.1 . 0.161 VoC, representing 0.7 percent.
Development is gaining in importance because unlike the national trend, the British variant was growing rapidly and had become the most dominant in the Punjab until April, but the trend reversed in May.
In April, VoCs were detected in 245 of 265 samples processed for the state’s WGS, representing 92.4%. Of these, 132, representing 53.9%, belonged to the UK Alpha variant, 108 to the Indian Delta variant, which accounted for 44.1%, and 3 (1.2%) were from B.1.
Earlier in March, more than 94% of samples had tested positive for the Alpha variant when 672 of the 703 samples from Punjab processed for WGS showed VoCs. Of these, 635, accounting for 94.5 percent, were from UK Alpha, four (0.6 percent) from Delta from India, two (0.3 percent) from Beta, and 1 each (0.1 percent) of B.1, B .1.36 and B.1.525 (Nigerian) VoC.
As of February, all 23 samples processed for WGS had tested positive for VoCs and 16, which accounted for 69.6%, were from Alpha UK.
In January, one of 25 samples from Punjab processed for WGS had shown VoC and it was also the UK Alpha.
Official figures suggest that from January to June, a total of 2,359 Covid patient samples were sent for WGS, of which 1,302, or 55.2%, were processed, and VoCs were detected in 1,149 of between them, accounting for 88.2 percent. hundred.
The three government medical colleges (GMCs) in Amritsar, Patiala and Faridkot, PBTI, FSL, Ludhiana District Civil Hospital and GADVASU have collected samples for the WGS in the state.
The official speech
All necessary measures are taken to detect and control the spread of VoC in Punjab. All districts were requested to continuously monitor these cases and ensure their adequate treatment and management. – Hussan Lal, Principal Secretary for Health
