Sri Lanka detects first patient with new COVID-19 variant
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E-mail Xinhua, January 13, 2021
COLOMBO, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka has detected the new strain of the COVID-19 virus after a British national who recently arrived in capital Colombo tested positive for the new variant, Chief Epidemiologist of the Health Ministry's Epidemiology Unit Dr. Sudath Samaraweera told local reporters on Wednesday.
This is the first case of the new variant to be reported in the island country.
Samaraweera said the infected patient had arrived in the country a week or two ago and further investigations were underway.
Sri Lanka has to date detected over 49,000 positive COVID-19 patients as the country is in the midst of a second wave of the pandemic.
According to Health Ministry figures, out of 49,537 patients detected since March, 42,621 patients have recovered and been discharged from hospitals bringing down the active patient count to 6,627. It said 244 patients have died from the virus.
The island country has conducted over 1.3 million PCR tests, figures showed. Enditem
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