RT-PCR test samples of passengers travelling to Jharkhand from states that have reported the Delta plus variant of SARS-CoV-2 virus will be sent for whole genome sequencing within 24 hours if they test positive, the health department has decided in a bid to keep the more infectious strain of the virus at bay.

The Delta Plus variant of the coronavirus, which has affected people in at least 12 states, including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, is said to have 60 per cent more transmissibility than the Delta variant and the potential to reduce monoclonal antibody response, which compromises the patient’s ability to respond to some of the medications, health officials said on Sunday.

“Such passengers, who come to Jharkhand from the 12 states that have reported prevalence of the Delta plus variant and test positive for Covid-19, will have to mandatorily be hospitalised,” said Dr. Siddharth Tripathi, the nodal officer of health department’s Information, Education and Communication (IEC) wing.

Ranchi has direct air connectivity with cities in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat – all affected by the Delta plus variant. The new mutated variant of coronavirus was particularly dangerous as it has stronger binding capacity to receptors of cells in the lungs, which may lead to fibrosis and premature deaths even in young and healthy people, officials said.

Besides strengthening the screening process for passengers coming to the state from Delta plus-affected states, the Jharkhand government has also intensified the process of sending samples of Covid patients for whole genome sequencing to Institute of Life Sciences (ILS) in Bhubaneswar.

The health department recently asked the civil surgeons of all the 24 districts to ensure at least 300 swab samples were sent to Bhubaneswar for genome sequencing every month. As per the directive, each of the 10 sentinel sites for collection of Covid samples will have to send 15 samples every fortnight to Bhubaneswar for genome sequencing – a practice that is likely to help in identification of mutated strains of coronavirus.

Genome sequencing of samples collected from April 1 to June 9 showed that the Delta variant of coronavirus was most prevalent in five districts of Jharkhand – Ranchi, East Singhbhum, Hazaribag, Palamu and Dhanbad. At least 204 of the 364 samples sent for genome sequencing were found to be affected by the Delta variant.

The only way to prevent the entry of the Delta plus variant in the state was to follow Covid appropriate behaviour and speed up the process of genome sequencing, health officials said.