CHANDIGARH: The states of Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and the Union Territory of Chandigarh account for about 13% of Covid variants of concern (VOC) reported in India.
Of the 21,109 variants of concern reported in the country, 2,695 are from this region Barring Gamma variant, Alpha, Beta and Delta lineages of the virus have been found in samples examined by National Centre for Disease Control and CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology for whole genome sequencing.
Punjab leads the tally with a maximum of 1,431 samples testing positive for these variants followed by Haryana (945), Himachal Pradesh (195) and Chandigarh (124).
Delta Plus variant that signifies Delta lineage with an additional mutation has been found in two samples in Punjab.
Punjab is among the few states like Maharashtra, Delhi, West Bengal and Gujarat where the highly contagious Delta variant has been found in more than 50% of samples.
The Delta variant is said to be up to 50% more transmissible than Alpha that is 50% more contagious than other common strains.
If not contained, these variants can lead to faster spread of infection, clustering of infection, improved binding to lung cells and increased severity of infection, resulting in an increase in hospitalisation and fatality.
Out of the 16,297 samples that tested positive for Delta in the country, 591 are from Punjab, 228 from Haryana, 83 from the hill state of Himachal Pradesh and 34 from Chandigarh.
Region’s contribution to the national tally of Alpha variant stands at over 36%.
Out of 4,544 samples in which Alpha was detected, 1,642 were from the region – Punjab (838), Haryana (603), Himachal Pradesh (111) and Chandigarh (90).
The Beta variant has been found only in four samples in Haryana, two in Punjab and one in Himachal.
The Centre has advised strict surveillance in districts reporting new VOC and to take stringent measures, including contact tracing, genome sequencing of positive samples of persons, restrictions on crowds and intermingling of people.
Stress has also been laid on community sampling as per the guidelines of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Balram Bhargava, director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research, shared that Covid virus mutates due to immune pressure after treatment and uninterrupted transmission caused by lack of Covid appropriate behaviour helping the virus to transmit more and acquire fitness.
Joint secretary, ministry of health, Lav Agarwal said, “Covid appropriate behaviour is a simple task and should become part of our lives.”