BHUBANESWAR: The dominance of the L-type strain of coronavirus could be the reason behind the surge in symptomatic cases among Gujarat returnees in Ganjam, suspect health experts who are on the visit to the district.
Odisha has so far registered 377 Covid-19 positive cases, among which 173 cases have been imported from Gujarat, 126 from West Bengal, five from Karnataka, two from Tamil Nadu and one each from Kerala and Maharashtra.
Until a week ago, around 85 per cent of the 170 confirmed cases in the State were asymptomatic. After migrants from Surat started returning home, the number of symptomatic cases are on the rise.Of the 173 cases linked to Surat, Ganjam has the highest 124 cases barring one who had returned from Kerala. Though all cases have been detected in the quarantine centres, over 90 per cent among them have displayed symptoms.
“Most of the cases recorded in the State are imported. While initially three symptomatic cases were found among the foreign returnees, the Nizamuddin and West Bengal returnees were asymptomatic. But a majority among those who have returned from Surat are symptomatic. It could be possibly due to the dominant strain,” said a health official.
Although no proper study on the virus strain in the State has been conducted, the official said some of the samples collected from among the Surat returnees will be sent to National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune for further research.
Last month, a scientist at Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC) had claimed that the novel coronavirus used for genome sequencing conducted recently contained the L-type strain, found to have been more prevalent at Wuhan in China.
Technical spokesperson of Health department Dr Jayanta Panda said virological study needs to be done to find out whether there is any evidence of the L-strain in Odisha.
Among the affected states in the country, Odisha is better placed as of now as the death rate and positivity rate is very low compared to others. People are testing positive and getting discharged after treatment, he added.
Of the 125 confirmed cases in Ganjam, one person succumbed in a quarantine centre. He later tested positive for Covid-19.Though the cause of death has not been announced yet, he is suspected to have died due to silent hypoxia.