Tamil Nadu has reported its first case of the Delta Plus variant of SARS-CoV-2. The patient was a 32-year-old nurse in Chennai but has now recovered. His RT-PCR report came back positive on May 4. She was in home isolation with mild symptoms. She was tested again on May 19 and the report came back negative, so she returned to duty the next day.
Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said her workplace and family contacts were negative for Covid-19. “She is currently doing well without any disease or complications post-Covid-19”, indicates a report from the directorate of public health and preventive medicine.
So far, Tamil Nadu has sent 1,159 samples to InStem laboratory in Bengaluru for whole-genome sequencing. To date, results from 772 samples (67%) have been received. The results show that the Delta variant (B.1.617.2) was the most commonly reported in 556 samples (72%), followed by the Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) in 65 samples (8.4%). “This Delta Plus variant of SARS CoV-2 has been reported among the 556 Delta strains,” the report states.
The samples are of positive cases taken between December 2020 and May 2021 in Tamil Nadu. Since the second wave saw a high prevalence of more transmissible variants, associated with reinfection and vaccine breakthrough cases, Tamil Nadu began the exercise to identify the variants circulating in the state.
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