No Delta plus variant of COVID-19 found in 376 samples tested in Mumbai: BMC

No Delta plus variant of COVID-19, considered highly contagious, was found among 376 samples tested in the second round of genome sequencing in Mumbai, a senior civic official said.

Additional municipal commissioner (western suburbs) Suresh Kakani said the samples were examined at a genome sequencing facility inaugurated in the city last month.

In a statement issued by the BMC, Kakani said, “The genome sequencing facility at civic-run Kasturba Hospital has tested 376 samples so far (in second round). Not a single sample was found with the Delta plus variant of COVID-19.”

“However, 304 samples had the Delta variant, while two samples had 19A lineage and four 20A lineage. The other 66 samples have prevalence of earlier strain of COVID-19. The Delta plus variant, which is known for its higher transmissibility, was not found in these samples,” he said.

In the first batch of genome sequencing, 188 samples were tested of which 128 had the Delta variant, while the remaining had standard COVID-19 strain, the civic body said in the statement.

The analysis of the first report is out which revealed that out of 128 samples, 93 were from Mumbai. Out of these 93, 45 samples were of men and 48 were of women.

As many as 54 persons out of these 93 had to be hospitalized, which in terms of percentage comes at 58, the statement said.

The remaining people had no symptoms, it said.

Among the 93 persons, 47 had taken at least one dose of vaccines against COVID-19. A further break-up stated that 27 persons had taken both doses of the vaccine, while remaining got infected after receiving the first shot.

Only four persons had to be put on oxygen support out of the 27 fully vaccinated people , the statement said.

As many as 1,194 people who had come in contact with these 93 persons from Mumbai were tested for COVID-19. Of these, 80 people had contracted the infection, the civic body said.