Official sources reported on Thursday that a 65-year-old lady had tested positive for the novel “Delta Plus” coronavirus strain. The news comes as the second wave of the epidemic in Madhya Pradesh is winding down and limitations set to prevent the spread of the disease are being relaxed.
According to officials, the samples of the woman, who lives near a big medical facility, were collected on May 23.
Reports received from 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.
In the context of public discourse regarding detection of new variants, NITI Aayog Member (Health) V.K. Paul has reminded that the newly detected ‘Delta Plus’ variant is not yet classified as a Variant of Concern (VOC). The variant was observed in Europe in March and has been notified and brought into public domain on June 13 this month.
As ‘Delta Plus’ is not yet classified as a VOC, Paul said, the way forward is to watch the potential presence of ‘Delta Plus’ in the country and take the appropriate public health response. “The present status is that yes, a new variant has been found. This is as of now a Variant of Interest (VoI), not as yet classified a VoC,” Paul clarified it in a COVID-19 media briefing.
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.
