The Delta variant of Corona has been identified in Sri Lanka. At the same time, on Wednesday, the number of people who lost their lives due to corona in the country exceeded 3000.
Workers sanitizing roads and stairs in Sri Lanka (AFP)
After 45 more people lost their lives to Coronavirus in Sri Lanka, the death toll has crossed 3000. The Ministry of Health gave this information in Colombo on Wednesday. So far, more than 2,57,000 cases of epidemic have been reported in the country and till Tuesday, 2,23,400 people have become infection free. The Health Ministry said that about 27 lakh people have taken the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, of which about five lakh people have also taken the second dose.
The introduction of the vaccine in the country started with the Covishield-Astrazeneca vaccine received as a gift from India. The island country mainly imported vaccines from China and also ordered Sputnik V vaccine from Russia. Officials said that the government has ordered Pfizer vaccines, while there is a possibility of getting a consignment of modern vaccines under WHO’s Covax facility. Sri Lanka has decided to take a loan of $ 150 million from the Asian Development Bank to buy the vaccine.
Delta variant of Corona found in Sri Lanka
The Health Ministry has started making arrangements for the treatment of COVID-19 patients at home under the supervision of the Medical Officer of the respective areas from Tuesday. A hotline has been opened regarding treatment at home. Earlier, officials in Sri Lanka said that the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus was detected for the first time within the community in the country. Dr. Chandima Jeevandra, Director of the Allergy Immunology and Cell Biology Unit in the Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine at Sri Jayawardenepura University, said that this form of the virus was found in samples taken from the area of Dematagouda, a suburb of Colombo.
Delta variant is more dangerous than alpha variant
Dr. Chandima Jeevandra said, we had taken eight samples from Dematagowda, in which five were found infected with the delta form of the corona virus. We continuously monitor different variants of the virus through different PCR test kits. This is the first time that this variant of corona was found in the community. Earlier, two people were found infected with the delta variant but they were in an isolation center. An earlier report by the university said that the delta variant is 50 per cent more infectious than the alpha variant found in the country and is capable of causing more severe disease and a single dose of the vaccine may be ineffective on it.
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