Five cases of the Kappa COVID-19 variant were detected in three Gujarat districts, the state health department said on Saturday. The World Health Organisation had described Kappa as a ‘variant of interest’. Only early this month, two Kappa – B.1.617.1 – cases were detected in Uttar Pradesh. 

First found in India in October 2020, the Kappa variant has not been classified as a ‘variant of concern’ by the WHO yet. It has two mutations the EE484Q and the L452R. According to scientists, the  L452R mutation may aid the virus in avoiding the body’s natural immune response system. 

Three cases were found in Jamnagar, two in Godhra in Pahchmahal district and one in Mehsana, it said in a release.

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In May, the World Health Organization had named the new variant, a double mutant, as ‘Kappa’, after a letter of the Greek alphabet.

Genome sequencing of samples of these patients, who had tested positive for COVID-19 between March and June this year, revealed that they were infected by the new variant, the department said.

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The department also traced those who came in contact with these patients. “So far, none of their contacts have been found to have COVID-19 symptoms. The health department has also undertaken intense surveillance in the areas from where the cases emerged,” it said.

Gujarat has so far reported 8,24,683 COVID-19 cases of which 8,14,265 patients recovered. There are 342 active cases in the state at present.

The two cases in Uttar Pradesh were found after genome sequencing of 109 samples was done at King George’s medical college in Lucknow. AstraZeneca had said that its COVID vaccine is effective against the Kappa variant of coronavirus.