The Centre on Friday informed that about 51 cases of Delta Plus variant of the coronavirus have been detected across 12 states in the country.
The most number of cases has been identified in Maharashtra (22), followed by Tamil Nadu (9), Madhya Pradesh (7), Kerala (3), Punjab (2), Gujarat (2), Andhra Pradesh (1), Odisha (1), Rajasthan (1), Jammu and Kashmir (1), Haryana (1) and Karnataka (1).
"There are very limited number of cases of this mutation (Delta Plus). In India, there are very limited cases (of Delta Plus). There are nearly 50 cases that are found in 12 districts and this has happened in the last three months. It cannot be said that in any district, state it is showing an increasing trend. Till the time we don't correlate this, we will not say this is a rising trend because its mutations are the same as Delta variant," Sujeet Singh, Director of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), said. The NCDC is among the ten institutes countrywide involved in genome sequencing the coronavirus.
The Delta plus variant has an additional mutation from the Delta variant- B.1.617.2.1. This specifically refers to the acquisition of the K417N genetic variant in the background of Variant of Concern (VoC) Delta (B.1.617.2). The new mutation is of significance as it is also present in VoC Beta (B.1.351). The Delta Plus variant possesses the transmission potential of the Delta variant, Singh informed. As the Delta variant is itself a VoC, its sub-lineages can also be called VoC.
ICMR Director-General Balaram Bhargava informed that the Delta plus variant is now present across 12 countries. "Delta Plus variant has also been isolated and cultured at ICMR-NIV and laboratory tests to check vaccine effect on Delta Plus variant. We should have these results in 7-10 days'' time whether the vaccine is working against the Delta plus," he said. He further noted that both Covishield and Covaxin are effective against Covid variants like Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. However, the second wave is not yet over for 75 districts have over 10 per cent positivity rate, and 92 have a prevalence rate between 5 and 10 per cent, he added.
Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Telangana, and West Bengal have Delta variants in more than 50 per cent of the samples sequenced, Sujeet informed.
"After that, we came to a conclusion that exponential surge during the second wave was to a large extent driven by this variant. Ninety per cent of the cases (of the samples sequenced) are being driven by B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant of SARS-CoV2," he added.
VoCs have been identified in 174 districts across 35 states and union territories, with the highest number of cases in Maharashtra, Delhi, Punjab, Telangana, West Bengal and Gujarat. VoC-caused Covid cases have risen from 10.31 per cent in May to 51 per cent as of June 20, '21.