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SL’s Covid variant spreads to Australia, Singapore

15 Feb 2021

The local SARS-CoV2 variant of B.1.411 lineage, which had been reported only in Sri Lanka till mid-January, has since been detected in Australia and Singapore, The Morning learnt yesterday (14). Speaking to us, University of Sri Jayewardenepura (USJ) Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine, Allergy Immunology, and Cell Biology Unit Director Dr. Chandima Jeewandara said that this SARS-CoV2 variant, which was responsible for the outbreak in Sri Lanka since October 2020, has been detected in Australia and Singapore. “Our variant was assigned a unique lineage after the continuous submission of data and is now referred to as the Sri Lankan lineage or the B.1.411 lineage which has been detected in Australia and Singapore, apart from being detected only in Sri Lanka since mid-January.” Updated data from yesterday shows that the variant, which is seen in 95% cases in Sri Lanka, has now been seen in 3% of cases in Australia and 2% of cases in Singapore, Dr. Jeewandara said. As at yesterday, Australia had a total Covid-19 case count of 28,898 and 909 deaths, while Singapore had 2,969 cases and 29 deaths in total. Meanwhile, the USJ Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine, Allergy Immunology, and Cell Biology Unit detected the UK variant B.1.1.7, which has a higher transmissibility than the Sri Lankan variant, in Sri Lanka last week. After sequencing 92 SARS-CoV2 viruses from January to the first week of February, 16 viruses belonging to this UK variant were detected in Colombo, Avissawella, and in quarantine centres. Three out of 16 viruses were detected from the community, while the rest were from quarantine centres. A special health authority meeting is to be held today to determine the steps to be taken in order to control the spread of this new variant and other routine changes.


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