SOFIA, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Bulgarian authorities on Thursday said the Delta variant found in India had been detected for the first time in the country.
The COVID-19 variant was detected in a man in the age group 20 to 30 who was temporarily residing in the country, the health ministry said in a statement.
The sample was taken on April 21 in the city of Pleven, 170 km northeast of Sofia, and its genomic analysis in Bulgaria showed that it did not belong to the known variants of the coronavirus, the statement said.
After depositing the sample in the international gene bank GISAID and a re-analysis conducted in June, it was found that this was a B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant of the coronavirus, the statement said.
The news comes amid a steady decline in the spread of COVID-19 in Bulgaria.
According to the country's COVID-19 information portal, the numbers of active cases and hospitalizations fell to 10,757 and 1,954, respectively, the lowest figures since last October.
Meanwhile, vaccinations are underway in the Balkan country, where nearly 1.620 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered. Enditem