From Bhupen Goswami
GUWAHATI : For the first time, delta variants of corona virus have been detected in two northeastern states of Manipur and Mizoram. The Central Government has asked the people of both the States to be extremely careful. Manipur Chief Minister says rapid spread of infection in the state due to delta variant is a cause of concern. Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh said 20 samples of the state were tested in a laboratory in Hyderabad, out of which 18 cases were found in delta variants. He said the rapid spread of infection in the state due to delta variant is a cause of concern. He urged people to follow corona prevention measures. Four cases of delta variant have been detected in Mizoram.Officials in Aijal said that four cases of delta variant have been detected in Mizoram. These four are men and hail from Aizawl district. Three of them had travelled outside, while the fourth person has come in contact with it locally. The state government is going to send 100 samples for testing and a lab at Kalyani in Bengal.
On Covid-19 cases, Mizoram government spokesperson Pachua Lalmalsawma said, delta variants have been detected in four men of Aizawl district, whose samples have been sent to the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG), Kalyani (West Bengal) along with others. He said three of the four patients aged 18-45 had travel history, while one was locally infected. Lalmalsauma, the state’s nodal officer for integrated disease monitoring programme (IDSP), said about 100 more samples for the entire genome sequencing will be sent to NIBMG very soon. The delta variant is said to be quite contagious compared to the ordinary virus, which is a matter of concern. On the other hand, the third wave of corona has hit Mizoram. Children are at great risk in this third wave of corona.
An official said at least 314 people, including two security personnel and more than 80 children, have tested positive for the novel Coronary virus in Mizoram, taking the state’s tally to 16,750. He said that out of the total population of 10.91 lakh (as per 2011 census), 1.53 per cent are infected with Covid-19 and it is estimated that 15 people per 1000 people have been diagnosed with infection. The latest 314 cases have come to light from different districts. He said Aizawl recorded the highest number of 240, followed by Lunglei and Siaha districts with 27 and 17 cases respectively.The Central Government will work towards connecting the fields with innovative agricultural techniques to benefit small and marginal farmers, especially women, in the North Eastern Region. The move will be taken by the government under its ‘Biotech-Kisan Programme’.
The Ministry of Science and Technology informed that the Department of Biotechnology has launched a special initiative for the North Eastern Region under its programme. The issues of the local farmers can be understood and scientific solutions can be found to their problems. The Ministry informed that the existing initiative is particularly focused on the North Eastern Region as the large population of the region is already dependent on agriculture. Here, 70 per cent of the total labour force works in the agriculture sector or its allied sector for livelihood. The Ministry said that a lot of work is to be done on the possibilities of increasing the income of the people belonging to agriculture sector in the North-East. The sector includes promotion of special crop based location, horticulture and income from trees, promotion of fisheries and animal production sectors.According to reports, delta variant cases have been registered in more than 70 countries of the world. Soumya Swaminathan said at a press conference in Geneva that delta variants are poised to become the most infectious globally due to the rapid spread. Some significant changes have been recorded in the spike protein of the delta variant of Covid, which makes the variant more infectious and dangerous. According to a study published in England, the strain is more aggressive and has made more people sick than alpha variants at a certain time.
