Rajasthan's 1st case of Delta Plus COVID-19 variant found in fully vaccinated woman

Jaipur: The first case of the Delta Plus variant of the coronavirus disease was detected in Rajasthan’s Bikaner district on Friday, officials said.

Bikaner’s chief medical and health officer, Om Prakash Chahar said a 65-year -old woman was infected with Covid-19, she was asymptomatic and recovered completely without any institutional treatment.

Chahar said the woman has recovered and is healthy. She has been administered both doses of the Covaxin Covid-19 vaccine.

The sample of the patient was collected on May 31 and was sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune as the institute had asked the Sardar Patel Medical College (SPMC), Bikaner to send 10 random samples of Covid-19 patients for genome sequencing.

He said of the random samples sent, one has been reported as Delta Plus variant from Bangla Nagar area. The woman, along with her three family members, was diagnosed with Covid-19. Her sample came positive for the new virus variant – Delta Plus. The report was received from Pune.

The health officials have started scanning the neighbourhood and nearby areas.

The state cabinet meeting, chaired by CM Ashok Gehlot on Friday also expressed concern over the occurrence of cases of the Delta Plus variant of Covid-19 in many countries and states of India. The meeting was told that according to the experts, this new variant of Covid-19 is said to be very deadly and rapidly spreading. In such a situation, any kind of negligence can create a big challenge. The members of the Council of Ministers said that relaxation in restrictions for business and other activities should be given keeping in mind all the apprehensions of the third wave.

The Delta variant of the Covid-19 has emerged as a ‘variant of concern’ and another mutation of Delta, the Delta Plus, has been found in India. The first case of Delta Plus was detected in a sample collected in Maharashtra in April, the government has said. This indicates that though the variant has been reported recently, cases already existed in India in April during the peak of the second wave.

Rajasthan’s Covid-19 rose to 9,51,826 with 131 fresh cases o Friday, officials said. Of the 131 cases, 17 were reported from Jodhpur, among others.

The death toll stood at 8,905 as no new fatality was reported in the state due to the infection. A total of 9,41,048 patients have recovered from the disease so far and there are 1,873 active cases of the infection in the state.