Bengaluru has 72% of 1,018 Covid patients with new variants

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Bangalore Urban district has 71.7% of 1,018 Covid patients whose samples were found to have the new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, as per case breakup accessed by DH.

So far Karnataka has received 2,774 samples for genomic sequencing out of which 1,738 have been done.

This includes 525 Delta variant patients, 116 Kappa variant patients, 88 Alpha variant patients, and one patient with the Delta Plus variant. In all, there are 730 Covid patients in the State capital whose Covid samples were found to have these above mentioned Covid virus variants.

A member of the state genomic surveillance committee on the condition of anonymity told DH, "The BBMP is supposed to act based on this data. They have to move towards quick tracing of these patients as it is crucial.

It is retrospective but it is important to check if the patients with Delta variants have recovered from the illness, whether they have been vaccinated, what is their current health condition, how many have died, how many were in the ICU, and how many needed oxygen. This is going to be very useful in understanding the virus variants in a deeper manner."

Also read: Vaccines almost eliminate chances of Covid deaths: Study

D Randeep, Special Commissioner, Health, BBMP, told DH, "We are awaiting guidance from the State on what needs to be additionally done by the Palike for these newer virus variants. We have only isolated the Delta Plus case, an 87-year-old man. We are still awaiting the BU numbers and SRF IDs of test samples with the other variants of concern.

Then we can start intensive surveillance. We need to quickly check if we have done contact tracing for all these Covid patients, get them retested, and in case they come positive, ensure their containment. Delta and Kappa are what triggered the second wave."

Randeep said that the BESCOM and BWSSB staff are now slowly being relieved of contact tracing duties and the BBMP is training its own staff in tracing.

"If we need to trace 10 primary contacts and eight to nine secondary contacts, in all 20-25 per patient, we require at least one team each to ensure that contact tracing is completed within 48 hours. We are currently having upto 600 cases, so we should have at least 1,000 contact tracing teams across eight BBMP zones. Out of these 730 Covid patients with the new virus variants, we need to check if we have established contact with all, whether they are untraceable and whether they belong to other districts," he said.

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