Five individuals who had contracted the B.1.617.2 variant of the coronavirus have been identified from Colombo, Dr. Chandima Jeewandara said.
The Director of the Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura said the detection was made during random Community Covid testing carried out in Dematagoda, Colombo.
He said the B.1.617.2 lineage of the virus is the Delta or Indian variant of COVID-19 and this is the first instance in which it has been detected from within the community in Sri Lanka.
Dr. Jeewandara further said the Covid variant has been reported to be 50% faster in transmission than that of the B 117 lineage.
Stating that it is a more severe variant of the coronavirus, Dr. Jeewandara said the variant has been observed to evade a single dose of the coronavirus vaccine.This is the latest Covid variant to be detected in Sri Lanka, after it was earlier reported that the Alpha and Delta variants have already been found in Colombo, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Kuliyapitiya, Wariyapola, Habaraduwa, Thissamaharama, Karapitiya, and Ragama. (NewsWire)
