UK Variant Found In 80% Of Covid Cases In Punjab: Health Minister

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said on Tuesday that 80 per cent of COVID-19 cases in Punjab have the UK variant of the virus and that the reasons behind the surge in fresh infections could be marriages, local body elections and farmers’ protests.

“In Punjab, 80 per cent of the cases due to the UK variant have been found and it has been confirmed by genome sequencing. It has come to notice that this surge in cases is event-driven like big fat weddings, local body elections; farmer protest etc could also play a possible role,” Mr Vardhan said, during his meeting with Health Ministers of 11 states to review the COVID-19 situation.

Genomic sequencing is an advanced test that determines the precise genetic information a virus carries as viruses mutate as they multiply and spread.

Punjab is witnessing farmers’ protests since last year against the three newly enacted farm laws — Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers’ Empowerment and Protection Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

The Health Minister also expressed concerns about the COVID-19 situation in Chhattisgarh and described it as the worst-affected state with 10 fold rise in coronavirus cases.

On the COVID-19 situation in Delhi, Mr Vardhan said: “We have witnessed a declining trend for a very long time but now a rising trend is being witnessed. Earlier, less than 100 cases were observed (in a day), now the number has risen to 5,000 cases.”

“The Government of India has sent 50 central teams to Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Punjab, where 30 districts of Maharashtra, 11 districts of Chhattisgarh and 9 districts of Punjab will be covered. They will stay 3-5 days in these districts,” he informed.

Meanwhile, India reported more than 96,982 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, informed the Union Health Ministry on Tuesday.