Covid-19: 48 cases of Delta plus variant in India; Maharashtra tops

India has detected forty-eight cases of Delta plus variant across 11 states, with Maharashtra reporting 20 such cases followed by seven infections in Madhya Pradesh on Friday.

The government has said the Delta plus variant is localised with a limited number of cases in the world, and laboratory studies are on to study the efficacy of vaccines against this variant.

“This virus has been isolated and we should have the results of the effect of the vaccine on the Delta plus variant in about a week. We will be the first country to do so,” said Balram Bhargava, director-general, Indian Council of Medical Research.

Bhargava said Covaxin’s efficacy against Aplha, Beta, Delta is “very much there” and public health response strategy does not change with variants. “If required, vaccine composition can be changed according to variants,” he said.

The INSACOG with its network of 28 labs is collecting samples from 300 sites across the country. The INSACOG is also sequencing samples of reinfection, severe cases, and breakthrough infections after the vaccination from hospitals.

“We are sharing information on this variant regularly with the states. They are advised to keep strict surveillance in the districts reporting new Variants of Concern and take up stringent public health measures,” said Sujeet Singh, director, National Centre for Disease Control.

The Delta Plus, or Delta-AY.1 variant, a sub-lineage of Delta variant, is a mutated version of the B.1.617.2 variant or strain. This strain is characterised by the K417N mutation in the spike protein of the SARS-CoV2 virus that causes the Covid-19 disease. The K417N mutation has been associated with “immune escape”, which means that the virus is less susceptible to — or less responsive to — any drug therapy.

The NCDC chief said there was no scientific evidence yet to say that the Delta plus variant is leading to an increase in the number of cases. “The number of cases we have seen so far over the last three months. It is not showing an increasing trend in any state,” Singh said.

NCDC also said the information on genome sequencing was shared this year twice with states in February, four times in March and April, and six times in May. Four reports have been shared this month so far.

While Delta plus is being reported in 12 countries, the Delta variant accounts for 25 per cent of the cases in 16 countries. From one district in December 2020, Delta variant had spread to 52 districts till March 2021 and 174 districts across 35 states by June, becoming one of the driving factors behind the second wave of the epidemic.

Bhargava said that the second wave of Covid-19 is not yet over. “We have still got 75 districts which have more than 10 per cent prevalence. We have 92 districts which have between five-10 per cent prevalence and 565 districts are less than five per cent prevalence so in large part of India second wave is over,” he said.

Overall, 50 per cent of the cases were due to one or the other of the variants of concern in eight states, including Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Telangana, and West Bengal. Of the variant of concern found by INSACOG in May this year, 90 per cent were of the Delta variant.

The government has also warned that the second wave is not yet over even though the case trajectory is coming down in most parts of the country. Seventy-five districts are reporting more than ten per cent case positivity and 92 districts have a case prevalence of 5 to 10 per cent.

Many districts in Maharashtra, the government said, are still reporting positivity between 5 and 10 per cent, which is why the state government is getting into action and unlocking cautiously.