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 Below is what we know about the variant.
WHAT IS DELTA PLUS?
The variant, called "Delta Plus" in India, was first reported in a
Public Health England bulletin
https://assets.publishing.service.
gov.uk/government/uploads/system/
uploads/attachment_data/
file/993879/Variants_of_
Concern_VOC_Technical_
Briefing_15.pdf on June 11.
It is a sub-lineage of the Delta variant first detected in India and
has acquired the spike protein mutation called K417N which is also
found in the Beta variant first identified in South Africa.
Some scientists worry that the mutation, coupled with other existing
features of the Delta variant, could make it more transmissible.
"The mutation K417N has been of interest as it is present in the
Beta variant (B.1.351 lineage), which was reported to have immune
evasion property," India's health ministry said in a statement.
Shahid Jameel, a top Indian virologist, said the K417N was known to
reduce the effectiveness of a cocktail of therapeutic monoclonal
antibodies.
WHERE ALL IT HAS BEEN FOUND?
As of June 16
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/
government/uploads/system/
uploads/attachment_
data/file/994839/Variants_of_
Concern_VOC_
Technical_Briefing_16.pdf, at least 197 cases has been found from 11
countries - Britain (36), Canada (1), India (8), Japan (15), Nepal
(3), Poland (9), Portugal (22), Russia (1), Switzerland (18), Turkey
(1), the United States (83).
India said on Wednesday around 40 cases of the variant have been
observed in the states of Maharashtra, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh,
with "no significant increase in prevalence". The earliest case in
India is from a sample taken on April 5.
Britain said its first 5 cases were sequenced on April 26 and they
were contacts of individuals who had travelled from, or transited
through, Nepal and Turkey.
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 No deaths were reported among
the UK and Indian cases. WHAT
ARE THE WORRIES?
Studies are ongoing in India and globally to test the effectiveness
of vaccines against this mutation.
"WHO is tracking this variant as part of the Delta variant, as we
are doing for other Variants of Concern with additional mutations,"
the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement sent to
Reuters.
"For the moment, this variant does not seem to be common, currently
accounting for only a small fraction of the Delta sequences ...
Delta and other circulating Variants of Concern remain a higher
public health risk as they have demonstrated increases in
transmission," it said.
But India's health ministry warned that regions where it has been
found "may need to enhance their public health response by focusing
on surveillance, enhanced testing, quick contact-tracing and
priority vaccination."
There are worries Delta Plus would inflict another wave of
infections on India after it emerged from the world's worst surge in
cases only recently.
"The mutation itself may not lead to a third wave in India - that
also depends on COVID-appropriate behaviour, but it could be one of
the reasons," said Tarun Bhatnagar, a scientist with the state-run
Indian Council for Medical Research.
 (Reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar in Pune, Bhargav Acharya and Ankur
Banerjee in Bengaluru and Alistair Smout in London; Editing by
Miyoung Kim and Giles Elgood)
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