The Union health ministry on Friday urged eight states and Union Territories to take up immediate containment measures including preventing crowds, conducting widespread testing as well as increasing vaccine coverage on a priority basis in districts where the Delta Plus variant of coronavirus has been detected.
The Delta Plus variant have been detected sporadically in Maharashtra, Kerala and MP.
The Delta plus variant of COVID-19 has greater affinity to lung tissues as compared to other strains but it does not mean that it will cause severe disease or is more transmissible, head of coronavirus working group National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) Dr N K Arora said.
While virologists say theoretically the vaccine that works on Delta should work on the Delta Plus variant as well, more research is needed.
It is the second death due to this variant in Maharashtra as it had claimed the life of an 80-year-old woman from Ratnagiri district on June 13.
22 cases of the Delta Plus variant of the coronavirus have been detected in India, with 16 of them being reported from Maharashtra and the remaining from Madhya Pradesh and Kerala, the government said.
In view of cases of the Delta plus variant of COVID-19 emerging in Maharashtra, the state government on Friday announced 'state-level trigger' for imposing restrictions in administrative units irrespective of weekly positivity rate and oxygen bed occupancy percentage.
The highly transmissible Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 has mutated further to form the 'Delta plus' or 'AY.1' variant but there is no immediate cause for concern in India as its incidence in the country is still low, scientists in New Delhi said.
These 51 cases were detected from over 45,000 samples sequenced so far in the country.
'Scientifically the effect and change of Delta plus has to be watched through our INSACOG system. This has to be detected and we have to see its presence in the country'
Covaxin, a whole-virion inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine used for mass immunization in the country, showed a 65.2 per cent protection against the Delta variant in a double-blind, randomized, multicentre, phase 3 clinical trial.
It will be unfair to put a date for any COVID wave as the behaviour of coronavirus is unpredictable and a disciplined and effective pandemic response can help the country get away from any significant outbreak, COVID Task Force chief V K Paul said.
The highly virulent 'Delta plus' variant of the novel coronavirus could stoke a third wave in Maharashtra, according to a presentation made at a meeting attended by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
The new order will impact cities like Nagpur, Thane and Pune as they had seen more relaxations than Mumbai, which continued to be under 'level 3' restrictions, despite qualifying for 'level 1' where all curbs are allowed to be lifted.
Vaccines Covishield and Covaxin work against SARS-CoV-2 variants Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta, while effectiveness tests against the Delta Plus variant is ongoing, the government said.
Emphasising the effect of the potential COVID third wave on children, the report said the Indian Academy of Paediatrics found that there is no biological evidence that the current and the new Delta Plus variant will affect children more than adults.
State Health Minister Rajesh Tope ordered a probe.
Breakthrough infections of coronavirus cases comprise a very high proportion of the Delta variant, the INSACOG, a genome sequencing government consortium of laboratories, has said.
Earlier this week, the top doctors' body in the country, the Indian Medical Association, said the third wave is "inevitable and imminent", pointing out that "in many parts of the country both the government and public are complacent and engaged in mass gatherings without following Covid protocols".
When a person gets an infection even after being vaccinated against it, it is called a breakthrough case.
'There is nothing to worry about. This is a variant of coronavirus and its treatment is possible'
Mumbai will continue to be in category 3 of the Maharashtra government's five-level unlock plan that seeks to ease coronavirus-induced curbs as per infection positivity rate and oxygen bed occupancy numbers, the BMC said.
AY.12, a sub-lineage of Delta which is driving fresh cases in Israel, is being seen in many states in the country but the numbers need a closer examination, INSACOG, a genome sequencing consortium, has said in its latest bulletin.
'We keep worrying about this variant or that variant. Forget about that.' 'Every variant can be stopped with a mask.' 'We don't want to do the simple thing of wearing a mask, but we worry ourselves to death about different variants.'
The Uttarakhand high court on Monday stayed the Chardham Yatra reversing a cabinet decision to open it partially for residents of three districts from July 1.
The panel was informed that the economic impact of the second wave of viral infection was "asynchronous in its onset and wider in its spread particularly in rural hinterland", a source said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, however, demanded Dahi Handi festival be allowed to be organised under certain conditions traditionally.
'We know that there are new variants which are more transmissible. We know that human behaviour determines the spread of this virus. Therefore, it is not very relevant if we declare whether the second wave is over or not'
It is for the second consecutive year that the yatra is not being held due to the pandemic.
''A third wave is very likely to come because infection is still around.' 'But it can be just a ripple.'
'People who were vaccinated early on, for example, from January to April this year, namely health workers, the elderly, and the immunocompromised, should be identified for a booster dose.' 'We should start getting ready for administering booster doses to them on priority.'
'The key purpose of vaccination is to prevent hospitalisation, severe disease, and death.' 'All vaccines work equally, although mild disease cannot be prevented.'
The stage of alert will be based on positivity rate (on two consecutive days), cumulative number of new cases (over a week) and average oxygenated-bed occupancy (for a week).
However, Covid infection can spread faster during the third wave if any new virulent variant of SARS-CoV-2 emerges, said Manindra Agarwal who is working with the Sutra Model -- the mathematical projection of the COVID-19 trajectory.
"Zero is an unlikely figure. The virus is mutating and it is difficult to predict it's future behaviour,
71 districts reported Covid case positivity rate of more than 10 per cent in the week from June 23 to 29, the government said, adding that the second wave of COVID-19 is not over.
The Reproduction number or Rt refers to how many people an infected person infects on average. In other words, it can tell how efficiently a virus is spreading.
'Opening everything is not appropriate ... everyone has been saying the third wave is a couple of days away'
'Wherever the Delta variant is spreading, and the population is not vaccinated, there is death and devastation.'
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