Eight more samples test positive for Delta Plus

So far, this variant has been found in nine samples lifted from COVID-19 patients

Eight samples have returned positive for the Delta Plus variant of the novel coronavirus in Tamil Nadu. So far, this variant has been found in nine samples lifted from COVID-19 patients in the State. Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan said three samples sent from the Directorate of Public Health (DPH) and Preventive Medicine and six sent by the National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE) had returned positive for the variant. While the DPH had sent nearly 1,150 samples to InStem, Bengaluru, for genomic sequencing to detect the SARS-CoV-2 variants, the NIE’s pool had a sample size of 457. Two days ago, the sample of a 32-year-old woman from Chennai had returned positive for the variant. Of the six samples sent by the NIE, three were from residents of Chennai and three from Tiruvallur. The samples were collected during the end of April and the first week of May and sent for analysis to the National Institute of Virology, Pune. All six of them had recovered from COVID-19. The remaining two samples — among those sent by the DPH — were from Kancheepuram and Madurai.