In yet another major cause of concern, Tamil Nadu has recorded the first death caused due to the Delta plus variant of the COVID-19 pandemic. The variant has become a distressing whammy amid battling the pandemic and amid easing the lockdown at the backdrop of declining COVID-19 cases. 

According to reports, the state has recorded its first death due to the Delta plus variant after the swab taken from a deceased person in Madurai had tested positive for the variant. Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian has on Friday said that after the death of the Madurai patient, samples were collected and it was confirmed that it was the Delta Plus variant. 

The contacts of the deceased had tested negative. He further said that the government has been sending samples from clusters for genomic sequencing to InStem in Bengaluru. Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan has said that the state's Directorate of Public Health (DPH) has sent 1,150 samples to InStem while the National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE) had sent 457 samples for testing. 

Of the total, three samples from DPH and six samples from NIE have tested positive for the viral infection. Among the three from DPH, the Madurai patient's sample was sent after his death and it had tested positive for the Delta Plus variant. The other two cases had got recovered and among the six people who had tested positive for the variant from the samples sent by NIE, three are residents of Chennai, and three are from Tiruvallur. 

The secretary said that all the samples were collected at the end of April and the first week of May and sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune. Health Minister Subramanian has said that there are 14 laboratories to conduct genomic sequencing in the country and all are under the control of the Union government. He further stated that the state government has sought approval from the Union government to set up a laboratory in Chennai. 

He added that it will take 20-25 days to establish the lab. The Union Health Ministry has on Friday said that Tamil Nadu has reported nine cases of the Delta Plus variant as of Friday while Maharashtra has 20 cases of the variant. According to the Union Health Ministry, the variant has an increased rate of transmissibility, stronger binding to the receptors of lung cells, and it potentially reduces the antibodies from responding. The ministry has classified the Delta plus variant as a variant of concern.