After Delta, five test positive for Kappa variant in Rajasthan

JAIPUR: Another double mutation Covid-19 variant, apart from Delta, has been found in Rajasthan. Five persons tested positive for the Kappa variant in the state. They were infected during the second wave. The Kappa variant is still not a variant of concern, but it is a variant of interest. Since the second wave was dominated by Delta variant and five covid-19 patients infected with it during April and May, the health department is now alert.
SMS medical college confirmed that five cases of Covid-19 tested positive for Kappa variant. However, they denied any link of the cases to the state. “We have reported cases of Kappa variant but all of them belonged to other states. Rajasthan has not reported any case of Kappa variant, all the cases were from outside,” said Dr Sudhir Bhandari, SMS medical college, Jaipur.
SMS medical college has been sending samples for genome sequencing to labs in Delhi and at National Institute of Virology, Pune since January. The state had recently received reports of genome sequencing. Out of the 174 samples, as many as 166 samples tested positive for the Delta variant collected from the state in April and May, and five were Kappa variant, also known as the B.1.617.1, which is a double mutant variation as it has the E484Q and the L453R mutations.
“Apart from that, Rajasthan had already reported one Delta plus variant, while no Lambda variant case has been reported in the state so far,” said a senior health department official.
Health department officials said that the genome sequencing reports they have been receiving show majority of the samples tested positive for Delta variant. However, only one Delta plus case has been found, which is from Bikaner.
The health department’s teams continued camping in the area for over a week in Bikaner, from where the first case of Delta plus was reported. More than 500 samples were taken from the area but all of them tested negative for Covid-19.