The Delta Plus variant of the coronavirus has been declared by India as the one of concern, as more than two dozen cases have been detected in three states. This is the mutated version of the Delta variant, first found in India. In a press release on the rising number of Delta Plus cases in the country, the Union health ministry said Delta Plus is “currently a variant of concern”.
India is among the nine countries where the Delta plus mutation has been found so far. Twenty-two cases of the Delta Plus variant of the coronavirus in India, with 16 of them being reported from Maharashtra and the remaining from Madhya Pradesh and Kerala and advised these three states to take up immediate containment measures, enhance testing, tracking and vaccination in districts and clusters where the Delta Plus variant has been detected, declaring it as a “variant of concern”. The Centre has also asked these states to promptly send adequate samples of positive persons to designated laboratories of INSACOG so that the clinical epidemiological correlations can be made. Besides India, the Delta plus variant has been found in the US, UK, Portugal, Switzerland, Japan, Poland, Nepal, China and Russia. “The Delta variant has been detected in 80 countries.
