Jammu, Jun 12: Recent epidemiological studies suggested the role of the new SARS-CoV-2 variants for ravaging second COVID wave in India including Jammu and Kashmir. The sudden increase in the number of COVID related deaths in UT of J&K especially in Jammu raised an alarm about the circulating variant of concern i.e., B.1.617.2 and the study proved it, said Dr Shashi Sudhan Principal and Dean GMC Jammu.
In a statement issued to the press, DrSudhan further said, “The COVID positive samples are routinely sent to Indian SARS CoV-2 Consortium of Genomics (INSACOG) for genomic sequencing and analysis of circulating COVID-19 viruses and several variants have been reported in Jammu.”
She said, “there is available information to suggest that the increased transmissibility and increased deaths in the month of May were linked to the variant of concern.”
As per the recent data of Covid-19 positives samples sent from Department of Microbiology, GMC Jammu to National Centre for Disease Control, Delhi, for genetic sequencing, 68.5 percent of the tested positive patients were reported to have variant of concern i.e. B.1.617.2, generally known as the double mutant and classified as variant “of concern” by the WHO.
DrSudhan further said that the mortality rate among patients admitted in the GMC, Jammu was 62.5 percent in those infected with the ‘variant of concern,’ with a very high number of young patients, indicating the higher public health implications of the variant.
She further added, “among those patients admitted 58.4 percent were reported to have B.1.617.2 (the variant of concern); 22.47 percent were reported to have B.1 mutation, 6.74 percent were having B.1.1 mutant, 3.37 percent had B.1.617.1 variant while 1.1 percent had B .1.1.7 the UK variant.” Further she added that 2.247 percent of admitted patients were reported to have no mutant at all.