KATHMANDU, June 3: Hours after a British tabloid claimed that a new ‘Nepal variant’ of the coronavirus had been detected in Nepal, the government has said that no new mutant of the virus has been detected in the country. 

Nepal has so far confirmed three variants --- Alpha (B.1.1.7), Delta (B.1.617.2) and Kappa (B.1.617.1) -- and the one which has been ravaging the country is Delta, according to the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP). “Of the variants detected in Nepal, Alpha and Delta are also tagged as the ‘variants of concern’ by the World Health Organization (WHO),” reads a statement released by Dr Kirshna Prasad Poudel, spokesperson for the ministry. 

Saying that the news report published by the UK-based Daily Mail which claimed that the ‘Nepal variant’ was detected on Wednesday night and is resistant to vaccines, the ministry urged the media to disseminate only genuine information and, after verifying it with the ministry. 

Earlier the WHO, too, refuted the UK-based tabloid’s claim that a ‘new variant was detected in Nepal and was spreading to Europe.

 
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