Coronavirus: Delta unleashes strikes

New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry on Friday said there are a total of 52 cases of Delta Plus variant of SARS-COV-2 in India and the cases have been detected from 50,000 samples sequenced so far in the country, with Maharashtra reporting the highest number of such cases, the Centre said on Friday. The ministry said at least 15 states across the country have reported 50 per cent of the cases of the variant of concern. The government maintained that 90 per cent of the Covid-19 cases in India are being driven by the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant.

"As of today, there are 52 cases of Delta Plus variant across the country," said Dr SK Singh, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Director, at the press briefing of the ministry. The cases have been very localised, said Dr Balram Bhargava, DG, ICMR.

It said the Delta Plus variant were found in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Delhi, Haryana and West Bengal.

The proportion of Covid-19 cases with variants of concern rose from 10.31 per cent in May 2021 to 51 per cent on June 20, 2021, it added.

"In the last couple of months, the first variant of concern was the one announced by UK where it was identified and subsequently, we now have 4 of these which WHO has called Alpha, Beta, Gamma & Delta. Delta is the one that was identified in India," said Renu Swarup, Secretary, department of Biotechnology. The government also asserted that both the Covid-19 vaccines–Covishield and Covaxin–work against SARS-CoV-2 variants like the Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta.

The ministry said the second wave of Covid-19 is not yet over in country as 75 districts still have more than 10 per cent prevalence and 92 districts have 5-10 per cent prevalence of coronavirus.