Five strains of new coronavirus infection are circulating in Ukraine, the relevant data were obtained from the World Health Organization (WHO) after examining 50 test samples from nine regions of Ukraine, the Center for Public Health, which is part of the country’s Health Ministry, said in a statement.
“The results showed that viruses circulating in Ukraine belong to the global genetic line B, which originates from China. Like any other line, genetic line B has varieties. The following genetic variants have been identified in Ukraine: B1; B1.1; B1.1.1; V1.5 and V2,”, the center said.
The virological laboratory of the Center for Public Health sent test samples from the Dnepropetrovsk, Donetsk, Transcarpathian, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Chernivtsi regions and the city of Kyiv to the WHO.
Sri Lanka has been welcoming tourists from the Ukraine recently under a new pilot project.
According to Ravi Kumudesh, the President of the College of Medical Laboratory Sciences, if the Ukrainians currently visiting the country were infected with these virus strains, it would be more likely to spread in Sri Lanka as well.
He added that the invasion of Sri Lanka by these new strains of the virus would not be far off if Ukrainian tourists did not follow the health guidelines enforced in Sri Lanka or if the quarantine laws were changed for them by certain parties.
