According to local media, Sri Lankan authorities have stated that the country’s health system is on high alert due to a new Covid-19 variant discovered in South Africa.
According to local health officials, the mutation had not been detected in Sri Lanka, but the country’s health system was on high alert because these mutations were rapidly spreading globally, according to the Xinhua news agency.
According to Professor Chandima Jeewandara of Sri Jayewardenepura University’s Immunology and Molecular Medicine Department, the variant discovered in South Africa was the most mutated coronavirus so far, and new mutations were expected to emerge during a pandemic.
“It may not have any serious effect on how the virus functions,” Jeewandara said.
According to a study, the C.1.2 variant, which was first discovered in South Africa, has since been discovered in countries such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Switzerland.
Scientists are investigating whether the C.1.2 variant is more dangerous than the dominant Delta variant.
With the spread of the Delta variant, which has infected nearly 60,000 people in recent weeks, Sri Lanka is experiencing a rapid rise in Covid-19 infections.
The total number of Covid-19 cases reported since March of last year is 426,169, with 59,796 active patients and 8,991 deaths.
Sri Lanka is in the midst of a large-scale vaccination campaign, with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa ordering that all citizens over the age of 30 be immunised with the first doses by September.
