The delta plus variant of the corona virus has been identified and is said to be of concern

(CNN) – The Ministry of Health of India on Tuesday named another variant of Kovit-19 and Delta Plus as the “variant of anxiety”.

Delta Plus is the delta variant of the Kovit-19 virus first identified in India. The new variant has so far been detected in three states of India, the ministry said in a statement.

The Government of India has submitted a new variant to the Global Data System, also referred to as AY.1 or B.1,617.2,1. It has been diagnosed in 22 patients in the Indian states of Maharashtra, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh, Indian Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan told a press conference here on Tuesday. Of the 22 cases, 16 cases were found in the western Indian state of Maharashtra alone, he said.

The Government of India has instructed those states to immediately carry out control measures, advanced testing, monitoring and vaccination in different districts and clusters.

WHO reads the Delta Plus variant

Dr. Maria van Kerkov, WHO Technology Lead at Covit-19, said the WHO monitors the ‘Delta Plus’ variant to determine its spread and severity.

“What we do in our viral evolution team is look at these specific mutations and what they represent in terms of their spread, in terms of severity and, most importantly, in terms of our clinical reactions.”

Samples of the Delta Plus variant will be sent to the SARS-COV-2 Genomics Federation of India (INSACOG) for analysis, the Ministry of Health said.

The Government of India had earlier considered the Delta Plus variant to be an “interest variant”.

According to INSACOG, the Delta Plus variant exhibits a number of disturbing characteristics, namely increased metabolism, strong binding to lung cell receptors, and a decrease in monoclonal antibody response.

The virus already exists in other countries

The Delta Plus variant of the corona virus is reported to be primarily outside India, the country’s press information office said in a statement on Wednesday.

This variation has been reported in 9 countries in addition to India, and currently there are only 40 registered cases. The Indian government report does not list which countries report or how many cases there are, but indicates that they were in Europe, Asia and the United States.

However, when the number of cases detected is low, “the Government of India states that distribution / detection in various states over the past two months or more indicates that the P.1,617.2,1 (AOI1) variant already exists. They may need to improve their public health response by focusing on geography monitoring, advanced testing, rapid contact tracking and preferably vaccination ”.