New Delhi: Twenty-two cases of the Delta Plus variant of the coronavirus have been detected in India. Sixteen of the Delta Plus cases are from Maharashtra while the other six are from Madhya Pradesh and Kerala, the government said Tuesday. India is among the nine countries where the Delta plus mutation has been found so far. This information was shared by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan at a press briefing. He underlined that it is currently a ‘variant of interest’. However, it has not yet been classified as a ‘variant of concern’.
Besides India, the Delta plus variant has been found in the US, UK, Portugal, Switzerland, Japan, Poland, Nepal, China and Russia.
Cases of the Delta plus variant have been detected in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri and Jalgaon and parts of Kerala and Madhya Pradesh.
“Any variant’s transmissibility and virulence decides 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 interest’. In India, 22 cases of Delta Plus variant have been found and it is in the category of variant of interest, (and) yet not a variant of concern,” informed Bhushan.
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The official also said the Health Ministry has released an advisory. It is on the kind of public health response that Maharashtra, MP and Kerala should initiate to address this issue. Bhushan further said that INSACOG has 28 laboratories and they have sequenced 45,000 samples, of which 22 cases of Delta Plus variant have been found.
Speaking on the overall pandemic situation in the country, NITI Aayog Member (Health) VK Paul said there is a consistent improvement in the pandemic situation but stressed that people must continue to follow Covid -19-appropriate behaviour and avoid crowds and parties. Uptake of vaccination has to be increased, he said.