Karnataka on Wednesday joined the list of States reporting infectious Delta Plus variant of Covid-19, a mutated version of highly contagious Delta variant, taking the total number of reported cases to 46 across the country, more than doubling a day after the reported 22 cases on Tuesday.

Maharashtra tops the list so far with 21 cases followed by Kerala and Madhya Pradesh which are already on alert. The Centre has issued them advisory amid concerns over likely third wave of the pandemic in the country in the next few months.  Presently, the Delta Plus virus is prevalent in nine countries across the world — the US, the UK, Portugal, Switzerland, Japan, Poland, Nepal, China, and Russia. However, the Delta variant has been detected in 80 countries.

Detected for the first time in India and now known as “Variant of Concern”, experts fear that the virus may be lurking in more parts of India, for which genome sequencing is the key to detect these cases. They said it is just a matter of time when more cases will trickle in from other States.

Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar Karnataka on Wednesday confirmed the two cases, one of which is from Bengaluru, while the other is from Mysuru. He said that the information has been shared with the Union Health Ministry and a further course of action is being planned.

The Minister said the State Government is monitoring the emergence of new variants and it has decided to set up six genome labs in the State. “Wherever we have a suspicion, we are doing genomic sequencing. We are doing random checks of five per cent of the total samples checked.”

The strain has been tagged as a “Variant of Concern” by the Centre. “The new Delta Plus variant of the coronavirus is extremely transmissible, and even walking next to a Covid-19 patient who is a carrier of this variant without a mask may lead to the spread of infection,” AIIMs director Randeep Guleria said to a news channel.

However,  Guleria said that right now, the spread of Delta Plus variant is limited in India and we need to continue to be cautious.

On Tuesday, the Union Health Ministry had announced that 22 cases of Delta Plus variant have been detected in India. The cases of Delta Plus have been found in genome sequenced samples from Ratnagiri and Jalgaon Districts of Maharashtra; Palakkad and Pathanamthitta Districts of Kerala; and Bhopal and Shivpuri Districts of Madhya Pradesh.

Recently, World Health Organisation (WHO) Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan had warned that the Delta variant is “well on its way” to becoming the dominant variant globally.

However, Dr Rahul Bhargava, Director-Bone Marrow Transplant Program, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurgaon, stressed “on knowing the infectivity rate of Delta plus variant and chances it can evade the fully-immunised person.”  Mask, vaccination and genomic surveillance are the cornerstone for prevention, he tweeted.

Flagging the concern, Dr Arvinder Singh Soin, chairman, Medanta Transplant Institute said that the Delta Plus- a variant of concern, is more transmissible and could even escape vaccines.

“We will continue to learn more about it. For now, remember that new variant or old, Covid-appropriate behaviour stays the same,” Soin said in his tweet.