Mumbai: 2 more cases of Delta Plus Covid variant; 1 of them is fully vaccinated

Two more cases of Delta Plus variant have been identified in Mumbai, which takes the total number to three in the city and 23 in the state

Two more cases of Delta Plus variant have been identified in Mumbai, which takes the total number to three in the city and 23 in the state. Both the patients were women healthcare workers, one of whom was fully vaccinated while the other was not vaccinated, said officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

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The Delta Plus (AY.1) is a mutation of the highly transmissible Delta variant of Sars-CoV-2 (B.1.617.2) and detected in the state during the second wave. The Union Health Ministry categorised the Delta-plus variant of Covid-19, as a ‘variant of concern’. Swab samples of the healthcare workers were sent for genome sequencing to Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB) in the first week of July after they contracted the infection in June. One is 28-year-old who was diagnosed with Covid-19 on June 28 after she had fever and headache. She hasn’t taken a single dose of Covid-19 vaccine. The second fully vaccinated patient aged 57 tested positive on June 29, but was asymptomatic. As per the BMC, she had taken both the doses of Covishield.

“As samples of their f four close contacts came positive for Covid-19, we sent their samples too for genome sequencing. Their results are awaited,” said Dr Gomare.

Genome sequencing is an exercise to study the changes in the structure of the virus over time. A combination of changes in the ribonucleic acid of the virus can give birth to a new variant. In April, the state signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with CSIR-IGIB to undertake genome sequencing of 4,000 positive swab samples.

A civic health official said identification of the variants in the city is likely to increase further as the BMC is in the process of starting genome sequencing at its affiliated Kasturba Gandhi Hospital from next month. The main machine for genome sequencing will arrive in the city next week which will help conduct more tests and timely delivery of reports.

“We have sorted out the problems with the transportation of the US-made machine. It will reach the city this week and we will be able to start genome sequencing at Kasturba Hospital by the first week of August,” said Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, BMC.

In June, the union health ministry announced that 48 patients were identified with the Delta Plus variant in the country, of which Maharashtra led the chart with 21 cases. The patients were from Ratnagiri, Jalgaon, Thane, and one each from Mumbai, Palghar and Sindhudurg districts. A total of nine patients were identified from Ratnagiri, the highest in the state.

The health department has been instructed by the government to send around 3,000 samples for genome sequencing. More samples have been collected from the districts that recorded ‘Delta plus’ variants of the coronavirus considering the variant is more transmissible. But so far, the state health department has not observed any spike in Covid-19 cases from the pockets where it was reported in May in the state.

“We have sent 177 samples for genome sequencing. So far, we haven’t been informed about any positive case of Delta plus from the laboratory,” said Dr Sanghamitra Gawde, civil surgeon from the district. “Also, the positivity rate which was 17.32% between May 26-June 1 has dropped to 6.1% in the last seven days,” she said.