On Tuesday, more than 40 cases of Delta Plus variant were found across three states in India<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
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FRIDAY, June 25, 2021 (HealthDay News) — India, already hit hard by the Delta variant of COVID-19, has labeled a closely related new variant — dubbed “Delta Plus” — as a “variant of concern.” But some epidemiologists in India and abroad say there is not enough data yet to warrant broader cautions about the variant, CBS News<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n Delta Plus cases are rising in India, and the variant has also been spotted in COVID-19 patients in the United States, United Kingdom, China, Japan, Poland, Portugal, Russia, and Switzerland.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, India said more than 40 cases of Delta Plus (officially called B.1.617.2.1) were found across three states — Maharashtra, Kerala, and Madhya Pradesh. A group of labs in India have studied the new variant and report that it appears to have three troubling characteristics: increased transmissibility, better ability to infect cells in the lungs, and a potential for higher resistance to vaccines or immunity gained through prior infection.<\/p>\n Jeremy Kamil, Ph.D., a virologist at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, told BBC News<\/em> that there is not “much reason to believe this [Delta Plus] is any more dangerous than the original Delta.”<\/p>\n “I would keep calm,” Kamil said. “I don’t think India or anyone else in the world has released or accumulated enough data to distinguish the risk from the so-called Delta Plus as being more dangerous or concerning than the original Delta variant.”<\/p>\n CBS News<\/em> Article<\/a><\/p>\n