The Centre has rubbished Tripura Government’s claim of as many as 138 COVID-19 cases of Delta Plus variant were detected in the state. 

The Centre has said that no case of the Delta Plus variant of COVID-19 has been detected in Tripura. 

This statement of the Centre comes just a couple of days after the Tripura Government had claimed that Delta Plus variant of COVID-19 were detected in 138 samples. 

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said that the media reports saying that multiple cases of the Delta Plus variant of COVID-19 was found in Tripura are false. 

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On Friday, the officials of the Tripura health department had said during a press conference that Delta Plus variant of COVID-19 was detected in 138 samples out of 151 samples, which were sent for genome sequencing at NIBMG Kalyani in West Bengal. 

The Centre said that not a single case of Delta Plus variant has been found in the state so far, adding, the results of genome sequencing reveal cases of Delta variant of the virus. 

“152 samples were sent from Tripura to NIBMG Kalyani for Whole Genome Sequence (WGS). The random samples were of people tested RT-PCR positive between April and May,” the ministry said in a statement.

The Centre said that the results showed that “3 samples had tested positive for B.1.1.7, 11 samples had tested positive for B.1617.1 (Kappa variant) and 138 samples had tested positive for B 1.617.2 (Delta variant)”. 

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“There was no case of Delta Plus reported among the lot of sequenced samples,” communiqué said. 

Dr Deep Debbarma, the COVID-19 nodal officer of Tripura said that the matter will be taken up with higher authorities.