40 cases of Delta Plus variant have been detected in India over the last two months

Forty cases of Delta Plus variant of SARS-CoV-2, a new “variant of concern” seen during the second wave of the Covid-19 epidemic, have been detected in India over the last two months since the detection of the first such case in April, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

The variant has been seen sporadically in Maharashtra, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh. In addition, a few cases have been reported from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Odisha and Gujarat.

But even as the emerging variant's role in the immune escape, disease severity and increased transmissibility are being studied by the scientists, there is a growing sense of concern among the officials because of a specific mutation or genetic change that the new variant is carrying. It allows the virus to evade immunity.

Read more: AstraZeneca, Pfizer vaccines effective against Delta Covid-19 variants: Study

Currently, the number of Delta plus variants in India are only a few. But since it is present in some of the states since April, the Centre has asked the administrations in those states to enhance their public health response by focusing on surveillance, enhanced testing, quick contact-tracing and priority vaccination in defined geographies where such a strain has been detected.

The ministry has also begun to inform the states of the new variant. While Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan wrote to Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala on Tuesday, Tamil Nadu has been informed about one case on Wednesday.

"We have been informed that one sample which was tested in Chennai is now identified as Delta Plus variant. We had sent a set of samples for genomic sequencing. This is a variant of concern as per the Union Government. We will collect the details of the person whose samples returned positive for the variant. We are not letting our guard down anyway," J Radhakrishnan, Principal Secretary (Health), said.

Indian scientists carried out a retrospective analysis of genome sequences to identify the index case after the UK public health authorities reported the first globally known case on June 11. A retrospective analysis of samples revealed the first occurrence of Delta Plus from a sample collected from Maharashtra on April 5.

Quoting the World Health Organisation, the ministry said all Delta variants, as well as all Delta sub-lineages including Delta Plus, have been classified as "variant of concern". This means the strain needs to be watched because of its potential to trigger a public health crisis.