COVID-19 Variant Delta Plus: All you need to know about new variant of coronavirus

The new Delta plus variant has been formed due to a mutation in the Delta or B.1.617.2 variant of coronavirus. (Representative image)

The highly-transmissible Delta variant of novel coronavirus has mutated further to form the ‘Delta plus' or ‘AY.1' variant. However, this variant of COVID-19 disease is not yet a ‘variant of concern’, the Union health ministry has said.

At a press conference on June 15, NITI Aayog Member (Health) VK Paul said a new mutation has been detected called Delta plus variant and it has been there since March 2021 in Europe.

"This is a variant of interest that has not yet been classified as a variant of concern. A variant of concern (VOC) is in which we have understood that there are adverse consequences to humanity by an increase in transmissibility and severity. This is not known yet about the Delta plus variant,” Paul said.

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Paul further said that scientifically the effect and change of Delta plus has to be watched through the INSACOG system. “This has to be detected and we have to see its presence in the country," he said. The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genetics Consortium (INSACOG) was set up by the government on December 25, 2020, to study and monitor genome sequencing and virus variation of circulating strains of COVID-19 in India.

Here are the key points about Delta plus variant of COVID-19:

> The new Delta plus variant has been formed due to a mutation in the Delta or B.1.617.2 variant, first identified in India and one of the drivers of the deadly second wave of COVID-19.

> Delta plus is resistant to the monoclonal antibody cocktail treatment for COVID-19 recently authorised in India.

> The mutation is in the spike protein of SARS-COV-2, which helps the virus enter and infect the human cells, according to Vinod Scaria, clinician and scientist at Delhi's CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB).

> The variant frequency for K417N is not much in India at this point in time. The sequences are mostly from Europe, Asia and America, Scaria wrote on Twitter on June 13.

> The earliest sequence of this genome was found in Europe in late March 2021. As the travel histories for the variant are not readily available to make assumptions, an important point to consider regarding K417N is the evidence suggesting resistance to monoclonal antibodies Casirivimab and Imdevimab, Scaria said.

One important point to consider regarding K417N is evidence suggesting resistance to mAbs Casirivimab and Imdevimab. The mAb cocktail incidentally has received an EUA from @CDSCO_INDIA_INF in India.

The variant freq for K417N is not much in India at this point in time pic.twitter.com/lIDU39wnIm

— Vinod Scaria (@vinodscaria) June 13, 2021

> Scaria also indicated the mutation may be associated with the ability to escape the immune response against the virus.

According to Public Health England, 63 genomes of Delta (B.1.617.2) with the new K417N mutation have been identified so far on the global science initiative GISAID.

(With inputs from PTI)

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