Over 50% cases of Delta variant of Covid found in 8 states

Almost 90 per cent of Covid-19 cases in India as of now are being driven by the Delta variant or B.1.617.2 variant, informed Dr SK Singh, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Director.

Eight states in India have shown 50 per cent of the Delta variant cases, Singh said. These are states are Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Telangana and West Bengal, he added during a press briefing on the Covid-19 situation in the country.
By June, cases of variants of concern have been found in 174 districts in 35 states and union territories, Singh said. Out of these Alpha variant accounts for 3,969 cases, Beta for 149 cases, Gamma for just one case and B.1.617 (Delta and Kappa) for 16,238 cases.

Proportion of cases with variants of concerns has risen five-fold from 10.31 per cent in May 2021 to 51 per cent as on June 20, 2021.
On cases of Delta Plus variant, Singh informed that 48 cases have been discovered in 11 states. Maharashtra had the highest case count for the variant with 20 infections. Nine cases of Delta Plus variant were found in Tamil Nadu, seven cases in Madhya Pradesh, three in Kerala, two each in Punjab and Gujarat, and one case each in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Jammu and Karnataka.

The Delta Plus variant indicates further mutations in the Delta variant, and not higher risks of infections or death, clarified Singh.

The government also asserted that both the COVID-19 vaccines – Covishield and Covaxin – work against SARS-CoV-2 variants like the Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta.
It added that the second wave of COVID-19 is not yet over in country as 75 districts still have more than 10 per cent prevalence and 92 districts have 5-10 per cent prevalence of coronavirus.