RT-PCR test samples of passengers travelling to Jharkhand from states that have reported the Delta plus variant of Coronavirus and subsequently testing positive for Covid-19 will be sent for whole genome sequencing within 24 hours, health officials said on Sunday, adding that the state has intensified vigil to identify the new mutated variant and prevent its spread.
“Such passengers, who come to Jharkhand from the states that have reported prevalence of the Delta plus variant and test positive for Covid-19, will have to mandatorily be hospitalized,” said the nodal officer of health department’s Information, Education and Communication (IEC) wing, Dr. Siddharth Tripathi.
The Delta Plus variant of Coronavirus, which has affected at least 51 people in 12 Indian states, including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, is said to have 60 per cent more transmissibility than the Delta variant and the potential to reduce monoclonal antibody response, which compromises the patient’s ability to respond to some of the medications, health officials said.
Ranchi has direct air connectivity with cities in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat – all affected by the Delta plus variant. The new mutated variant of coronavirus was particularly dangerous as it has stronger binding capacity to receptors of cells in the lungs, officials said.
Besides strengthening the screening process for passengers coming to the state from Delta plus-affected states, the Government has also intensified the process of sending samples of Covid patients for whole genome sequencing to Institute of Life Sciences (ILS) in Bhubaneswar.
The health department recently asked concerned officials of all the 24 districts to ensure at least 300 swab samples were sent to ILS Bhubaneswar for genome sequencing every month. As per the directive, each of the 10 sentinel sites for collection of Covid samples will have to send 15 samples every fortnight to Bhubaneswar for genome sequencing – a practice that is likely to help in identification of mutated strains of coronavirus.
The only way to prevent the entry of the Delta plus variant in the state was to follow Covid appropriate behaviour and speed up the process of genome sequencing, health officials said.
Genome sequencing of samples collected from April 1 to June 9 showed that the Delta variant of coronavirus was most prevalent in five districts of Jharkhand – Ranchi, East Singhbhum, Hazaribag, Palamu and Dhanbad. At least 204 of the 364 samples sent for genome sequencing were found to be affected by the Delta variant.