Srinagar, June 23: The first case of “Delta Plus variant” in J&K has been confirmed from Jammu, official sources said.

An official said that sample collected at Katra and sent for genome sequencing to National Central for Disease Control (NCDC) returned positive for the Delta Plus variant.

Principal GMC Jammu, Principal GMC Jammu, Dr Shashi Sudan Sharma said that one sample from Katra has been confirmed to be Delta Plus variant. However she said sample has not gone from GMC.

The development came even as the second wave of the pandemic is waning in J&K and restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of the infection are being eased.

So far around 40 cases of the Delta plus variant, classified as a variant of concern (VOC), have been detected in India.

According to some reports, the highly infectious Delta variant (B.1.617.2) of COVID -19 that was first found in India is feared to have mutated into Delta Plus variant. gns