Tripura Govt Says Delta+ In 91% Genome Sequencing Samples, Centre Denies

As the Tripura government declared a weekend 24 hours curfew from Saturday noon to Monday 6 am after more than 90 per cent Delta Plus variant of Covid-19 were detected in samples sent for genome sequencing test, the central government has rubbished the report but revealed that 11 samples have been tested positive for Kappa variant.

Meanwhile, on Sunday afternoon during a press conference Dr. Siddharth Shiv Jaiswal, MD of NHM Tripura had reconfirmed that 91 per cent of 151 samples sent for genome sequencing test outside the state have found Delta Plus variant of the virus and is a matter of great concern for the state.

However, a few hours later in the evening, the union government through a press release of the PIB dated 11 July 2021 says that ‘no case of Delta Plus have been reported from 152 samples which were sent from Tripura to NIBMG Kalyani for Whole Genome Sequence (WGS).’

It has been learned that the Tripura government has written to the central government on what will be the fate of the report that they procured from the Kalyani lab in West Bengal.

However, the confusion continues as the state government till Monday morning has not come out with any official statement reacting to the central government press release.

Recently two cases of the Kappa variant of coronavirus were detected in UP’s Gorakhpur though according to the World Health Organizations' site on tracking SARS-Cov-2, the Kappa variant was first detected in India in October 2020.

Earlier the health department during an urgent press conference expressed concern over more than 90 percent of the 151 samples sent for genome sequencing test at Kalyani in West Bengal have found Delta Plus variant of the virus.

Dr. Deep Debbarma, COVID-19 nodal officer had said that as per the protocol of the government of India recently Tripura had sent 151 RTPCR samples of April and May month to the designated genome sequencing lab at Kalyani in West Bengal, and from the report, it was found that out of those 151 samples more than 90 percent are Delta Plus variant of the virus and which is a matter of concern as it is deadlier and cause the havoc in the second wave across various states in India.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Microbiology department Dr. Tapan Majumder said that while in other states the infection rate trend is downward in Tripura the average infection rate is almost steady and a little above five percent.

Adding that the pattern resembles sustained transmission of the virus and which is ominous, Dr. Majumder cautioned the general public to maintain COVID appropriate behaviors, not only outside but also in their houses as the present scenario in Tripura is almost like community transmission and it may turn deadly at any moment.