The government has upscaled contact tracing and testing in the country to determine the level of spread of the Indian variant in the community. The first case of the Indian variant was detected in the country on May 5 with data from the World Health Organisation showing the variant has now spread to at least 50 countries. However, the ongoing genomic surveillance has revealed early and established community transmission, of both UK and Indian variants of concern in Kisumu, Mombasa and Kilifi. At least 20 cases of the Indian variant have been recorded in the country to date. The variant is still being investigated to determine its genetic composition with the results expected in a month.

Source: The Star June 02, 2021 02:03 UTC