Health

‘Variant of Concern’: 40 cases of Delta Plus variant detected in India so far

New Delhi: India has reported a total of 40 cases of the coronavirus disease due to the Delta Plus variant till now, news agency ANI reported on Wednesday citing sources from the Government of India. A mutation of the Delta strain or B.1.617.2 variant first detected in India.

The Health Ministry has categorized the Delta Plus variant of the novel coronavirus as a “variant of concern” and India is among the 10 countries (USA, UK, Portugal, Switzerland, Japan, Poland, Nepal, China, and Russia) where the Delta Plus variant has been detected.

It has been found in three states— Maharashtra, Kerala, and Madhya Pradesh— so far. The Health Ministry has already issued alerts and directed states to take immediate containment measures where the variant has been found.

“India reports 40 cases of the Delta Plus variant of the novel coronavirus. Most of the cases are from Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It is still a variant of interest,” the report quoted official sources as saying. Till Tuesday, the number was 22.

On Tuesday, Health Ministry called Delta Plus a “variant of concern” (VoC). In declaring so, the ministry cited an analysis by a consortium of genomic sequencing labs that purportedly found the mutated virus to spread more readily. Earlier that day, addressing a press conference, health secretary Rajesh Bhushan had called Delta Plus a “variant of interest” (VoI), which denotes that the variant is being studied.

Meanwhile, India reported 50,848 COVID cases in the last 24 hours, taking the overall tally to over 30 million. The death toll also climbed to 3,90,660 with 1,358 fresh fatalities.

The active cases in the country further declined to 6, 43,194 and now accounted for 2.14 percent of the total infections, while the national recovery rate has improved to 96.56 percent, the Health Ministry said.

 

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