No need to panic: Experts on Delta plus variant

Bengaluru: The detection of the new Delta plus variant of the Covid-19 virus in Karnataka has raised concerns of yet another spike in cases

Bengaluru: The detection of the new Delta plus variant of the Covid-19 virus in Karnataka has raised concerns of yet another spike in cases. Even though it has not been proven that the surge in cases in Maharashtra was due to the new variant, the timing of the spike and the detection of the variant are causing concerns in neighbouring Karnataka. Experts, however, said that there is no need to panic and stressed on conducting adequate research into the variant.

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According to Karnataka’s department of health and family welfare, during the first and second waves, infected interstate travellers from Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu were behind the outbreak in the state.

“Our two neighbouring states, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have the highest number of the Delta plus variant cases. Maharashtra has reported 22 cases so far and Tamil Nadu has reported four (as of Wednesday). These are not the total number of the Delta variants in these states but those found in the sequencing conducted. So, this is a matter of concern,” said a senior bureaucrat in-charge of health in Karnataka, who didn’t want to be named. The Union health ministry had classified Delta plus as a “variant of concern’ in India on Tuesday. The Delta variant has been held responsible for the deadly second wave of the pandemic in India. Several other countries also consider Delta as the factor behind the sudden surge in infections. The new variant is a mutated version of the virus. Speaking about the case detected in Bengaluru, BBMP commissioner Gaurav Gupta said that the case was detected much earlier (he didn’t specify the exact date). “The patient has recovered, and his contacts have recovered as well. BBMP will be initiating the process to conduct more genome sequencing to identify the variant in the state. But what is important is that people should understand the virus the still among us and Covid prevention norms should be followed,” Gupta told reporters on Thursday.

Despite these concerns, a senior bureaucrat told HT that no discussion on travel restrictions have been held so far. The government also plans to continue with the current relaxations of the lockdown rules, he added.

Even though the state bureaucracy is worried about the new variant, experts in the city are of the opinion that adequate research should be conducted into the variant but said that there is no need to panic. Dr Ravi, former head of the neurovirology department at NIMHANS and member of Karnataka’s TAC on Covid-19 said that unnecessary panic around the variant should be avoided. “Whether is it more infectious, there is no evidence to show that. They are tracking the patients to find if the virus spreads faster. We will know this soon,” he said.

He added that it doesn’t seem that variant is more virulent. “All of the 41 cases detected in the country, there is no evidence of any deaths (due to the variant). The pattern of disease in Delta plus is no different from what is seen in the Delta variant. Most of the Delta plus cases are from samples collected more than a month ago. My reading is that if it was collected one month back, had it (the Delta plus variant) been so deadly, there would have been a higher number of cases and deaths. In fact, the numbers are coming down,” he said.

He, however, pointed out that increasing genome sequencing is very important and ramping up vaccination is the real solution to the Covid-19 problem.

Dr Vishal Rao, a member of the expert committee on Karnataka’s Covid task force said that it is important to keep eye on the patients in the ICU to understand the implications of the new variant. “As a doctor, it is important for me to keep an eye on the ICU and those showing severe symptoms and find out genomic patterns exhibited by them… It eventually comes down to conducting more genome sequencing. The government has announced that it would conduct 5% genome sequencing. It is a good sign because we are doing less than 0.5% right now,” he said.

Karnataka health minister Dr K Sudhakar on Thursday said that vaccination is the only way out to keep Covid-19 at bay. Government is determined to provide both the doses of the Covid vaccine for all by this December end, he added. “Vaccine is the only solution for Corona. Otherwise, we need to mask up all the time. If we want to be mask free, then everyone should be vaccinated at the earliest,” he said.

The minister on Wednesday had confirmed the presence of the Delta Plus variant of Covid-19 in Bengaluru. Two cases of the new variants have been reported in Karnataka – one each in Bengaluru and Mysuru, the minister had said.

He also said the information has been shared with the Union health ministry and a further course of action is being planned. Adding that the state is monitoring the emergence of new variants and that six genome labs are functioning in the state. “Wherever we have a suspicion, we are doing genomic sequencing. We are doing random checks of five per cent of the total samples checked,” Sudhakar had said.