Tamil Nadu reports first Delta Plus COVID variant fatality; 9 cases reported so far

Amid significant improvement in India's COVID-19 condition, the Delta Plus variant continues to remain a serious concern as Tamil Nadu on Saturday reported a causality because of the new coronavirus strain. Addressing a press conference, Health Minister Subramanian informed that there are nine cases of the Delta Plus variant in the state. 

"A patient who died on April 21 was infected with Delta Plus variant of coronavirus. A total of 9 cases of Delta Plus variant have been reported in Tamil Nadu so far," Subramanian said.

As per the state government's data, Tamil Nadu reported 5,415 new COVID cases in the last 24 hours. The state recorded 7,661 recoveries and 148 deaths on Saturday. The total count of active cases in the state now stands at 44,924. A total of 23,83,624 people have recovered from the disease so far, while the death toll has mounted to 32,199. This new mutant strain of COVID-19, Delta variant has increased transmissibility, increased severity of infections, and improved binding of the virus to lung cells.

Delta plus variant in other states

In another development, Ludhiana reported the first case of Delta Plus variant of COVID-19, said Deputy Commissioner VK Sharma on Saturday. Earlier on Friday, out of 21 cases of Delta plus variant of COVID-19, one has succumbed to the virus in Maharashtra, informed state health minister Rajesh Tope. Chandigarh also reported the first case of the variant on Saturday. In Madhya Pradesh, at least eight patients have been infected by the new strain.

The Union Health Ministry, on June 25 informed that as many as 48 Delta Plus cases have been reported in the country.

"Wherever you find a cluster, you have to contain it," said Director-General of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Dr Balram Bhargava and added that the government had said that at this time the spread is still 'very localised'.

The union government further added that the virus strain has been isolated and is being cultured by the ICMR - NIV and tests to check its resistance to existing COVID vaccines. The government has also said 'delta plus' variant cases had been reported from 12 other countries, including the US and UK.

What is Delta plus variant?

COVID-19 variant Delta plus is a mutant strain of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 which has been recently discovered. This mutation can lead to clustering of infections, increased transmissibility, increased severity of infections and improved binding of the virus to lung cells. Some of the symptoms observed in the reported cases are fever, headaches, sore throats, and runny noses.

(Inputs from ANI)