June 3, Kathmandu- The Ministry of Health and Population has clarified that no new variant of COVID-19 has been found in Nepal. Spokesperson of the Ministry Dr Krishna Prasad Poudel while issuing a press release today said that serious attention has been drawn to the baseless news that a new variant has been found in Nepal in various international media and confirmed that no new variant has been found in Nepal.

Currently in Nepal, only the variants of the Covid-19 variant of 'Alpha (B.1.1.7),' and 'Delta (B.1.617.2)' have been detected and the latest variant of the COVID-19 seen recently is Delta (B.1.617). .2). The new variants of COVID-19, which are included in the World Health Organization's Variant of Concern and spread in different countries, have been given different names 'Alpha', 'Gamma' and 'Kappa'.

"The Ministry of Health warns the media personnel and media outlets to be responsible for disseminating such misleading news without providing official information from the Ministry of Public Health," said Dr Poudel, a spokesman for the ministry.

The ministry has appealed to all to be vigilant and responsible in preventing the infection and to play a role in enforcing public health standards. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization Nepal has also clarified that it is not aware of any new variant in Nepal. The organization said that the variants in Nepal are Alpha (B.1.1.7), Delta (B.1.617.2) and Kappa (B.1.617.1) and of these, Delta is the active variant now.