Covid-19: Delta Plus not a concern yet

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 15

A new mutation has been detected in the Delta variant, first found in India, but the mutation is not of concern yet, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday, noting that its presence has to be assessed and tracked in the country.

Detected in Europe, the mutation, called Delta Plus, has also been reported in America and some parts of Asia, but Indian genome sequencers are yet to determine its presence at home.

“Delta Plus is a variant of interest as of now, but not of concern,” said VK Paul, Member, Health, NITI Aayog. He said the Indian SARS-Cov-2 Genomic Consortium, a network of 28 labs, had been asked to find the presence of Delta Plus in India for future planning.

“We are yet to understand the adverse consequences Delta Plus may have. We are told monoclonal antibodies do not work on this variant, but we are still learning,” he said.

An analysis by UK government agency, Public Health, England, shows for the first time that two doses of vaccine (either Pfizer-BioNTech or Covishield) are highly effective against hospitalisation from Delta variant.