With the State recording 10 cases of Delta Plus variant so far, the health experts have warned that if not dealt with strictly, the transmission of the variant will be double the cases the State witnessed in mid-May. Also, the majority of people would be symptomatic of the Delta Plus variant.
School students creating awareness among the public about importance of vaccination
Chennai:
“The Delta Plus is likely to become a dominant variant which can drive the third wave and we are afraid it would affect younger age group, especially children because they are the ones yet to be vaccinated. Also, the State will witness double the cases compared to the second wave, where all the health systems will be overloaded if the situation is not dealt with strictly,” said Dr Ashwin Karuppan, Senior Consultant - Internal Medicine, Gleneagles Global Health City.
“Meanwhile, the symptoms are slightly different for the Delta Plus variant with prolonged chronic cough and severe body pain. However, the majority of people would be symptomatic, when infected with Delta Plus. Even the incubation period is shorter, that within 24 to 48 hours the patients develop symptoms,” he added.
The health experts opine that as the majority are not vaccinated in the State, they could be severely infected with the virus. Also, the mortality rate might increase among those who are non-vaccinated. Those who are vaccinated will be asymptomatic or may show mild symptoms when infected with Delta Plus. Those who got infected in the first or second wave, and are not vaccinated can still get caught in the next wave.
“The overall vaccination is very less in our country; the vaccination’s primary aim is to prevent the severe COVID infection which is causing mortality. Most of them have started trials for Delta Plus variant, which shows people who are vaccinated will be less infected compared to non-vaccinated people as the virus does not have selection pressure to mutant against the vaccine,” said Dr Vijaylakshmi Balakrishnan, Senior Consultant, Infectious Diseases, Kauvery Hospital.
New COVID cases continue downward trend
The number of new COVID-19 cases continued to decline in Tamil Nadu, which reported 4,013 cases on Saturday. The deaths went up slightly to 115, a majority of them from Thanjavur. Coimbatore added 474 new cases, followed by 360 in Erode, 232 in Thanjavur, 231 in Tirupur and 227 in Chennai. The total number of cases in the State has gone up to 24,92,420 as on Saturday. The State notified 115 deaths linked to COVID, including 17 who did not have any comorbidities, taking the death toll to 32,933. Thanjavur reported the highest of 26 deaths, followed by 20 in Chennai.
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