PANAJI
Battered by the second Covid wave, the Epidemiology Department in the State has been cautiously monitoring the results of genome sequencing samples of Covid positive patients in Goa as a Delta-Plus variant, a new mutant version of the Delta strain has been found in neighbouring district of Sindhudurg, Maharashtra.
Out of cases detected, one case is from the neighbouring Sindhudurg district while the other cases are 9 from Ratnagiri, 7 from Jalgaon, 2 from Mumbai, and one each from Palghar, Thane.
While Goa has not received any specific instructions from the central health ministry, the Directorate of Health Services is also monitoring the situation.
"We have not received any specific alert from the central government, but as a part of surveillance genomic sequencing samples are sent for analyses from Goa every 15 days", Dr Utkarsh Betodkar, State epidemiologist said.
It may be recalled that genome sequencing of samples of the UK returnees to Goa last year was conducted, and four samples had shown the presence of the UK strain.
All four persons were then isolated and sent home only after their samples returned negative.
Presently, around 22 cases of the Delta-Plus version strain are found in Maharashtra, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh. The government has issued a warning to these States mentioning that this mutated variant is a "variant of concern".
This variant is predicted as the variant which can trigger the third wave of Covid infection.
