A new variant of the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, has been detected in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh’s Medical Education Minister Vishwas Sarang said citing a report by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
“We are investigating and conducting contact tracing to minimise the spread of infection,” news agency ANI quoted Sarang as saying.
More details of the variant were not immediately available.
Meanwhile, the highly-transmissible Delta variant of novel coronavirus has mutated further to form the ‘Delta plus' or ‘AY.1' variant. However, this variant is not yet a ‘variant of concern’, the Union Health Ministry has said.
Maharashtra’s health department has warned that the ‘Delta plus’ variant may cause the third wave of infections in the state. During a meeting attended by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, state health department officials said that active COVID-19 patients could reach up to eight lakh, while 10 percent out of them could be children.
India reported 67,208 new COVID-19 cases for the previous 24 hours on June 17. The number remained under the one lakh-mark for the 10th day in a row.
With a subsiding second wave of infections, India is currently preparing for a possible third wave of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
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