Chennai: An alert has been sounded in Tamilnadu after a the sample of a 32-year-old woman, who had tested positive for Covid-19 in May and recovered, has returned positive for the ‘Delta Plus’ variant of the coronavirus.
“Though there is nothing alarming as of now, the government is not ready to take any chances. Hence, officials have been asked to take all measures to combat the spread of Delta Plus variant,” sources said.
The woman, a resident of Chennai, was working as a staff nurse at a private hospital. Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said the patient tested positive for Covid-19 on 4 May. She had mild illness and was advised home isolation. She was tested again on 15 May and her results returned negative.
He said her sample, which was sent for whole genome sequencing, returned positive for the Delta Plus variant. Her contacts at the workplace and family did not have any illness and were found to be negative for Covid-19.
The state health department had sent a total of 1,159 samples for genome sequencing, out of which reports of 772 samples were received on Wednesday, in which one sample came back positive. The samples were sent in May to INSACOG (Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia). The nurse has also recovered from the virus, officials said.
“We have seen the British variant and double mutant variant. There is no need to panic as of now,” Radhakrishnan said. The IAS officer tasked with Covid-19 pandemic handling in the state said there is a need to adhere to Covid-19 prevention measures like wearing face mask, avoiding crowds and getting vaccinated.
To identify the SARS CoV-2 variants circulating in Tamilnadu, Covid-19 positive samples from all the districts are being referred to InSTEM, Bengaluru, for whole genome sequencing studies since December 2020 by the Directorate of Public Health under the supervision of Dr T S Selvavinayagam, Director of Public Health.