First identified in India, the Delta variant is now the dominant COVID-19 variant in the country. The Health Ministry through its Facebook page yesterday confirmed that the most prevalent variant triggering series of outbreaks in the country is due to the presence of the COVID-19 delta variant. The delta variant is regarded as more contagious and is more likely to lead to hospitalization.
According to the Health Ministry, 30 samples from the current outbreak were sent to Bangkok, Thailand for gene sequencing. In the data analysis received from Bangkok yesterday, it was discovered that 87 per cent of the total samples sequenced are Delta variant while ten per cent is the Beta variant and three per cent is the Alpha variant.
The Beta variant was discovered initially in South Africa and the Alpha variant was first discovered in the UK.
The Health Minister cautioned people to be more careful after the confirmation of the presence of the Delta variant in the country.
“If the variant becomes rampant, it will ultimately compromise our health system. It will be very difficult to contain the outbreak. So with that, we would once again like to remind the public not to let their guards down, follow COVID precautionary measures diligently including avoiding mass gatherings, mandatory use of face mask and of course our usual hand washing and using Druk Trace. I think it will be only together that we will be able to contain the outbreak,” said Dechen Wangmo, the Health Minister.
Meanwhile, the country’s total number of confirmed cases stands at 1889.
Pema Seldon Tshering
