Maharashtra found 21 Delta Plus variant cases

Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope on Monday confirmed that they have found 21 Delta Plus Covid-19 variant cases in the state

Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope on Monday confirmed that they have found 21 Delta Plus Covid-19 variant cases in the state. It was found in the genome-sequencing report conducted by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB). The report was recently submitted to the state health department.

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Of the 21 cases, two are in Mumbai and one in Thane. Nine cases are in Ratnagiri, seven in Jalgaon and one case each in Palghar and Sindhudurg.

The Delta Plus, formed by mutation in the Delta (B.1.617.2) variant, is currently a “variant of interest”, and hasn’t been classified as a “variant of concern” by the Union health ministry yet. Genome sequencing is an exercise to study changes in the structure of the virus over time.

In April, the state government signed an MoU with CSIR-IGIB to sequence 100 positive samples from each of the state’s 36 districts per month. They have collected 7,500 samples.

“Genome sequencing was conducted in the state to ascertain if the state has the Delta Plus variant. The report has found 21 Delta Plus. Taking this into consideration, the health department instructed to collect details of index cases such as if the patient was re-infected after 102 days; it was infected even after vaccination and their travel history etc.,” the health minister said.

“We have decided to start contact tracing of high-risk and low-risk contacts of index cases and genome sequencing of all those found Covid-positive will also be done. We have directed to start surveillance for influenza-like Illness (ILI), severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) in the affected areas. It is being done to ascertain the differentiating factor between Delta and Delta Plus variants and understand their virulence and transmissibility,” he added.

Tope said they also wanted to know if variants are escaping the Covishield and Covaxin vaccine. For this, genome sequencing on a lot of samples need to be conducted which the health department is doing.