21 August 2021 10:11 am Views - 236
By Sheain Fernandopulle
Three unique mutations appearing in the Delta variant together was found in Colombo for the first time in the world, Dr Chandima Jeewandara said.
Dr Jeewandara who is the Director of the Allergy, Immunology and Cell Biology Unit of Sri Jayewardenepura University said this was identified in the latest genetic sequencing carried on samples obtained from several areas in the country.
“The Indian lineage with these three mutations seem to be dominant in majority of samples in the Colombo district,” he said.
“The three mutations are A22V, A701S and A1078S. One of the mutations, which is A701S has originated from Sri Lanka while A22V has been described in different parts of the world and the A1078S mutation has been detected in Malaysia,” he underlined.
Dr Jeewandara said they were closely monitoring this as it is a significant finding and investigating the importance of this finding to see whether there is an advantage with these three mutations for the survival and transmissibility of the virus.
Meanwhile, he said out of the 88 samples of COVID-19 patients obtained from several districts, 84 cases were of the Delta variant.
“The cases of the Delta variant were mainly detected in the Colombo district. The other patients were detected from Kandy, Matale, Ratnapura, Nuwara Eliya, Galle, Vavuniya, Maharagama, Malabe and Gampaha,” he added.