CHENNAI, JUNE 26
Tamil Nadu has registered its first death due to the Delta Plus variant of COVID-19 with a person from Madurai succumbing to it, according to the state health department.
Minister for Medical and Family Welfare Ma Subramanian said three positive cases of the new ”Delta Plus” variant were identified of which two have recovered.
Those tested positive for the Delta Plus variant include a 32 year old nurse from Chennai and another individual from Kancheepuram district. “After the death of the Madurai patient, the samples were collected, which confirmed that it was ”Delta Plus” variant,” the minister said. However, the patient’s contacts have tested negative. According to the Union health ministry, after Maharashtra with the maximum of 20 cases of ”Delta Plus”, nine people in Tamil Nadu have tested positive for the new variant as of Friday.
Centre warns against intermingling of people and crowd to 10 states
Meanwhile, the Union government writes to 8 states, alerts 10 districts across the nation.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan wrote to chief secretaries of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, warning them against allowing people to intermingle and crowd on Friday night.
The Union health ministry on Friday asked seven chief secretaries to take immediate containment measures in those districts where cases of patients infected with the Delta plus variant of Covid-19 have been found. Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan wrote to chief secretaries asking them to implement immediate containment measures and ensure proper adherence of Covid 19 measures.
In his DO letter Mr. Bhushan said, “you are aware that INSACOG is a consortium of laboratories for whole genome sequencing in the context of Covid-19 pandemic. INSACOG is tasked with not just the whole genome sequencing but also giving timely inputs on appropriate public health responses in specific geographies where variants have been found,” the letter said.
The health ministry informed the chief secretaries that based on data received from the INSACOG so far it found that the Delta Plus variants have three main characteristics – increased transmissibility, stronger binding to receptors of lung cells, potential reduction in monoclonal antibody response. Bhushan in his letter said that widespread testing, prompt tracing as well as vaccine coverage on a priority basis is necessary. He also highlighted the immediate need of implementing containment measures in these districts and clusters.
Following districts have been asked to strengthen their response after Delta Plus variant was found:
- Tamil Nadu – Madurai, Kanchipuram and Chennai
- Karnataka – Mysuru
- Andhra Pradesh – Tirupati
- Gujarat – Surat
- Haryana – Faridabad
- Punjab – Patiala, Ludhiana
- Jammu and Kashmir – Katra
The union government said that it has detected 51 cases in 12 states from 45,000 samples tested. The NCDC director said that 22 cases of Delta Plus variant have been found in Maharashtra, followed by nine in Tamil Nadu, seven in Madhya Pradesh, three in Kerala, two each in Punjab and Gujarat, and one case each in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Karnataka.
