Covid Delta Variant Found in Manipur ,Mizoram & MP
NEW DELH : A 65-year-old woman has tested positive for the new “Delta Plus” variant of coronavirus here, official sources said on Thursday. The development came even as the second wave of the pandemic is waning in Madhya Pradesh and restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of the infection are being eased. According to officials, the samples of the woman, who lives near a big medical facility, were collected on 23 May.
According to Reports the National Central for Disease Control (NCDC) on Wednesday said she was positive for the `Delta Plus” variant. The woman, who has taken two shots of anti-coronavirus vaccine, recovered in home isolation, sources added. When contacted, Medical Education Minister Vishwas Sarang confirmed that a woman tested positive for a “different variant”, but did not elaborate.
The state has not lowered its guard against COVID-19 and testing has not decreased even when the number of new cases is dipping, he said. “We are sending samples for genome sequencing to laboratories and NCDC,” added the minister. According to some reports, the highly infectious Delta variant (B.1.617.2) of COVID -19 that was first found in India is feared to have mutated into Delta Plus variant
In another development The Delta variant of coronavirus has been detected for the first time in two states in the north-east – Manipur and Mizoram, sources have said. After testing 20 samples from Manipur in a laboratory in Hyderabad, 18 were found to be of Delta variant, sources said. Mizoram reported four cases of the highly infectious variant, also known as B.1.617.2. The Delta variant has been detected in four COVID-19 patients in Aizawl district. Their samples were sent along with others to the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics in West Bengal.
In neighboring Assam, the government has issued guidelines for a special vaccination drive for diabetic, cancer, and chronic illness patients. The state government took the decision due to incidence of mortality and secondary infection like Mucormycotic or Black Fungus becoming common in people with comorbidities.
The Delta variant, which was first identified in India, is becoming the dominant variant globally because of its significantly increased transmissibility, World Health Organisation chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said yesterday. The third wave of COVID 19 can strike India in the next six to eight weeks if crowds are not prevented and if rules are broken, AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria warned on Saturday. “If Covid-appropriate behaviour is not followed, the third wave can happen in six to eight weeks. We need to work aggressively to prevent another large wave till vaccination kicks in,” told Guleria .
He insisted that COVID-appropriate behaviour needs to be followed aggressively until a sizeable number of the population are vaccinated. Gulleria also stressed on the need for stricter surveillance and area-specific lockdowns in case of a significant rise in COVID-19 cases. Earlier, India’s epidemiologists had indicated that a third wave of COVID-19 is inevitable and is likely to start from September-October. Guleria reiterated that till now, there is no evidence to suggest that children will be affected more in the next wave of the infection.
India suffered massively under the brutal second wave of the coronavirus pandemic in April and May, however, the number of cases have shown a downward trend. India’s total tally rose to 2,98,23,546, while the number of active cases stand at 7,60,019, the lowest in 74 days. The death toll climbed to 3,85,137 with 1,647 fresh fatalities and active cases comprise 2.55 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 96.16 per cent, according to Union health ministry on Saturday.
(With Agency Inputs ).
