Alarmed at new coronavirus strains like Delta and Alpha afflicting 328 people so far in recent days in Jharkhand, the state government has ordered sending samples of patients within 48 hours of their death for genetic study to help evolve a strategy to contain their spread, a top official said Tuesday.
Battling the deadly second wave of the Covid-19 that has claimed 5,100 lives in tribal-dominated Jharkhand, the state government is concerned as these variants like Delta, Alpha, and Kappa are said to be more transmissible.
"As many as 328 of the 364 samples have tested positive for variants like Delta, Alfa, and Kappa in the State in course of whole genomic sequencing", State Health Secretary, Arun Kumar Singh told PTI.
The state is committed to taking all necessary steps to stop the spread of the virus to protect its citizens by adopting evidence-based containment measures, the health secretary said.
