“At this point, there is no evidence to suggest that Delta Plus has anything to do with a possible third wave," he said.
The government has admitted that the Delta Plus strain of coronavirus is a variant of concern. With India reporting around 40 cases of the variant, there are speculations that it might trigger the third wave of the pandemic. However, India's top genome sequencer has denied any such threats.
Talking to a national TV channel, Dr Anurag Agarwal, Director of the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) said that there is no data to prove that the Delta Plus variant will cause the third wave.
“At this point, there is no evidence to suggest that Delta Plus...has anything to do with a possible third wave," he was quoted as saying by the news channel.
Allaying fears about the possibility of the Delta Plus variant resulting in the third wave of the pandemic, Dr Agarawal said that there is no need for people to panic right now.
"I certainly do not see any reason right now for people to panic regarding Delta Plus being significantly worse than Delta or creating a major third wave...There is absolutely no evidence for that," he said.
"My institute has sequenced more than 3,500 samples from Maharashtra in the month of June, covering samples from April and May. We can see that these (Delta Plus variants) are very much there. But these would constitute less than one per cent," he added.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Wednesday said that 21 cases of Delta Plus variant of coronavirus have been found in seven districts of the state.
"Twenty-one cases of Delta Plus variant have been found in seven districts of the state. We are isolating such cases and taking all details like travel history, contact tracing and if they have been vaccinated," Tope told reporters.
"We have decided to send the samples for the genome sequence study. No deaths have been caused due to the Delta Plus variant. Symptoms and treatment are the same for this variant. No children have been infected with this variant," he added.
According to Union Health Ministry, INSACOG (Indian SARS-CoV -2 Genomics Consortium) has informed that Delta Plus Variant is currently a "Variant of Concern (VOC)" and it has characteristics of increased transmissibility, stronger binding to receptors of lung cells and potential reduction in monoclonal antibody response.
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