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Rapid spread and severe disease, as expert warns of a ‘new variant of concern’
“There is a strong possibility that a ‘new variant of concern’ of the coronavirus which is highly transmissible (spreading quickly) and also causing severe disease is currently circulating in Sri Lanka,” said Prof. Neelika Malavige, Head of the Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine, University of Sri Jayewardenepura.
Prof. Malavige’s laboratory is the only one capable of conducting genetic sequencing in the country to find out what type of variants are in the samples from positive patients.
This variant seems to have displaced the variants of Sri Lankan lineage which have been circulating so far, says Prof. Malavige going onto explain that certain changes are detected in some RT-PCR assays, when there is a variant.
“One of these changes is a so-called ‘S drop’ that occurs due to mutations that are seen in certain variants such as the UK variant (B.1.1.7). However, sequencing or targeted detection of these mutations that occur in these variants is essential to confirm which variant it is. The results of sequencing are expected next week,” she said.
Prof. Malavige said that currently, over 95% of the samples from Colombo, Kurunegala and Kalutara give an ‘S drop’, suggesting that these infections are due to this variant. This variant appears to have completely displaced Sri Lanka’s own virus (B.1.411) within a very short period of time (10 days), showing that it is highly transmissible compared to the previous strain.
Explaining what ‘variants of concern’ are, she says that the World Health Organization (WHO) names them as such when a mutation is more transmissible, more virulent (causes severe disease) or escapes natural or vaccine-induced immunity.
Looking at the situation in the country, she says that in the past week there has been more transmissibility, with the number of infections not rising gradually but rapidly. This is while there also seems to be more severity – whereas earlier, a majority of the people infected were asymptomatic (without symptoms) or mildly symptomatic. Now although most people still have mild symptoms, the proportion developing severe symptoms is increasing.
She cautioned that a further COVID-19 blow will come in about 10-14 days, when the number of infected due to disregarding health precautions during avurudu, will surface.
| Epid hotline and special unit at NHSL for any rare vaccine reaction A hotline (011-3415985) has been set up at the Epidemiology Unit to report any adverse reactions such as severe headaches following immunization, while a special treatment unit has been established at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL), Colombo, to deal with such an emergency with an elite team in place, the Sunday Times learns. Six suspected cases of rare possible adverse reactions following immunization were reported from the first immunization round. In these suspected cases, there had been three deaths and three recoveries. “A thorough investigation has been carried out including postmortems and forensic and histo-pathological studies. But we cannot come to a 100% decision whether these deaths are due to blood-clots linked to the vaccine,” said the Director-General of Health Services, Dr. Asela Gunawardena. A similar picture is being found in other countries such as the United Kingdom and Germany. These cases don’t have a 100% correlation to the vaccination, he said, adding that more data need to be collected. Severe headache seems to be one symptom, with such symptoms occurring usually from 3 days to 3 weeks after vaccination. | |
| Quarantine guidelines revised – 14 days at centres for all returnees The quarantine guidelines for Sri Lankans (citizens and those holding dual citizenship) returning from abroad have been revised with immediate effect. All those, excluding people who are fully vaccinated, who return to Sri Lanka will undergo a 14-day period of quarantine, whether they are at paid-quarantine facilities (hotels) or state quarantine centres. Earlier, the quarantine measures were: Released after 7 days in a quarantine hotel if the exit PCR test is negative, with another 7 days in home quarantine and released after 10 days in a state quarantine centre if the exit PCR test is negative, with another 4 days in home quarantine.
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