Her RT-PCT report returned positive on May 4. She was in home isolation with mild symptoms. She was tested again on May 19 which returned negative and she re-joined her duty the following day
Tamil Nadu has reported its first case of Delta Plus variant of the SARS-CoV-2. The patient was a 32-year-old staff nurse in Chennai, but she has recovered now. Her RT-PCR report returned positive on May 4. She was in home isolation with mild symptoms. She was tested again on May 19 which returned negative and she re-joined her duty the following day.
Health secretary J Radhakrishnan said her contacts in her work place and family were found to be Covid-19 negative. “She is currently doing well without any illness or post Covid-19 complications,” said a report from the directorate of public health and preventive medicine.
So far, Tamil Nadu has sent 1,159 samples to Bengaluru-based lab InStem for whole genome sequencing. As of today, results of 772 samples (67%) have been received. The findings show that the Delta variant (B.1.617.2) was the most common reported in 556 samples (72%), followed by the Alpha (B.1.1.7) variant in 65 samples (8.4%). “This one Delta Plus variant of SARS CoV-2 was reported among the 556 Delta strains,” the report said.
The samples are of positive cases taken between December 2020 and May 2021 in Tamil Nadu. Since the second wave saw a high prevalence of more transmissible variants, associated with reinfection and vaccine breakthrough cases, Tamil Nadu began the exercise to identify the variants circulating in the state.
