Forty cases of the Delta Plus variant of the novel coronavirus have been detected in India and most of them in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, reported news agency ANI citing government sources.
In a tweet on June 23, the agency said that the Delta Plus variant is still in the category of variant of interest, (and) not yet in the category of variant of concern.
India is among the 10 countries where the Delta Plus mutation has been found so far, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said at a press briefing on June 22. Besides India, the Delta Plus variant has been found in the United States, United Kingdom, Portugal, Switzerland, Japan, Poland, Nepal, China and Russia.
"Any variant's transmissibility and virulence decide whether it is a variant of concern or interest. Delta variant is found in 80 countries around the world, including India and it is a variant of concern,” Bhushan said at the briefing.
"Delta Plus variant has been detected in nine countries besides India. In India, 22 cases of Delta Plus variant have been found and it is in the category of variant of interest, (and) not yet in the category of variant of concern," he said.
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Earlier on the day, a statement issued by the Union Health Ministry stated INSACOG had informed that the Delta Plus variant, "currently a variant of concern (VOC)", has these characteristics -- increased transmissibility, stronger binding to receptors of lung cells and potential reduction in monoclonal antibody response.
Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia (INSACOG) is a consortium of 28 laboratories of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Dept. of Biotechnology, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for whole genome sequencing in the context of COVID-19 pandemic.
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The Health Ministry has released an advisory on the kind of public health response that Maharashtra, MP and Kerala should initiate to address this issue which "presently looks fairly small in terms of number but we would not want this to assume significant proportions", Bhushan added.
According to the Health Ministry statement, it has alerted and advised Maharashtra, Kerala and MP to take up immediate containment measures, enhanced testing, tracking and vaccination in districts and clusters where the Delta Plus variant of COVID-19 is found.
"Union Health Secretary has communicated to these three states this variant has been found in genome sequenced samples from Ratnagiri and Jalgaon Districts of Maharashtra; Palakkad and Pathanamthitta Districts of Kerala; and Bhopal and Shivpuri Districts of Madhya Pradesh," the statement said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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