GURUGRAM: A 25-year-old Faridabad resident, whose Covid samples were sent for genome sequencing as part of a research, has been identified as the first patient in Haryana infected with the Delta Plus variant of the virus.
An employee of an IT firm at the CGO complex in Delhi, the man had tested positive on May 4.
He had moderate symptoms, officials in the Faridabad health department said, and recovered in about 10-12 days at home.
Sources said he would take the Metro to work and back.
The Delta Plus variant was identified on Thursday.
Earlier this month, the ESIC Medical College and Hospital had sent the man’s samples for a research in collaboration with other institutes and hospitals of Delhi-NCR.
“We usually send 5% of the total positive samples from our lab for genome sequencing every month.
However, the variant was not detected when we sent this month’s batch of samples.
We are also doing a research funded by the department of biotechnology on the characterisation of the virus in collaboration with other research institutes, medical colleges and hospitals of Delhi-NCR.
For the research, we had taken a total of 6,500 samples.
Of them, 4,500 samples were from ESIC.
The sample with the Delta Plus variant was found during this research,” said Dr Anil Pandey, registrar-academic at ESIC.
There are concerns over the Delta Plus variant because it is believed to be more transmissible and might emerge as one of the main reasons for another wave of infections in the country.
Studies are being conducted to find out the efficacy of vaccines against this variant.
According to health officials, the man had attended a wedding in Delhi before testing positive.
He had fever for 2-3 days and other symptoms such as cough and cold for 5 days.
However, five other members of his family had tested negative for Covid.
“He tested positive on May 4, had fever for 2-3 days followed by cough and cold.
But he was fine after that.
He was in home isolation and recovered in a few days,” said Dr Rambhagat, the deputy civil surgeon of Faridabad.
After the first case of Delta Plus variant from Haryana came to light, home and health minister Anil Vij said he had ordered all contacts of the Faridabad resident to be traced.
The minister also assured that the state was prepared to deal with any kind of emergency.
“We are going to intensify testing and increase the number of vaccination camps in the area.
We will also increase surveillance.
His positive sample was preserved for genome sequencing and was sent for research by ESIC.
The result came on June 24,” added Dr Rambhagat.