Sounding alarms across the state, 11 cases of the new COVID mutant, Kappa have been detected in Rajasthan. Informing about this, the state health minister apprised that Jaipur and Alwar have 4 cases each of the new variant. Additionally, 2 new Kappa cases have been reported from Barmer while Alwar recorded one such case. Amid the relaxing restrictions in the state and the capital city, the latest development calls for amplified caution against the pandemic.
Reports obtained from Jaipur’s SMS Hospital and a Delhi facility
The Health Minister stated, “11 cases of the Kappa Covid-19 variant have been detected in Rajasthan out of which four cases are from Jaipur and Alwar each, two are from Barmer, and one from Bhilwara.” Notably, the presence of the new Kappa variant was confirmed in 9 out of these 11 samples at the specialised IGIB facility in Delhi, with the help of genome sequencing. Besides this, 2 samples tested positive for the Kappa variant at Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital in Jaipur.
2 cases of Kappa variant found in Uttar Pradesh earlier
As per reports, the Health Minister affirmed that the Kappa variant is not as dangerous as the Delta variant. In order to ascertain the degree of severity associated with these variants, focused research and investigation is being conducted. Previously, 2 cases of the Kappa variant were also detected in Uttar Pradesh. While 109 samples were tested at Lucknow’s King George Medical College, 107 of these tested positive for the Delta variant and 2 were found to have Kappa variant.
10 new cases and 27 recoveries were reported in Jaipur on Tuesday and the city has 171 active cases now. Cumulatively, 1,87,409 individuals have tested positive since the beginning of the pandemic and 1,970 lives have been lost to the virus till now.
