Maharashtra: COVID-19 Delta plus variant infects 66 in state, 5 reported dead

Ats many as 66 people were detected to have been infected with the Delta plus variant of the coronavirus in Maharashtra. A few of them were fully vaccinated and five of them have succumbed to the new variant, said the state health department. The variant, considered highly infectious, was detected during genome sequencing of swab samples sent from different parts of the state.

A civic official said that the first death due to the Delta Plus variant occurred in the last week of July when a fully vaccinated 63-year-old woman from Mumbai succumbed to the infection. The BMC said, after the woman passed away, two of her immediate contacts were also found to be infected with the variant. The woman lost her life on July 27 and it was not until August 11, when the state authorities realised that she was infected with the delta plus variant. The official said that the result of the genome sequencing came after her death. The health department said that out of the five deaths related to the Delta plus variant, two patients were from Ratnagiri district and one each from Raigad, Beed and Mumbai. The district with the maximum number of Delta plus patients was Jalgaon with 13 patients, followed by Ratnagiri at 12 and Mumbai at 11.

More stats related to Delta plus variant

The state authority said that 80% of the samples that were tested for genome sequencing had shown the presence of the Delta plus variant of the coronavirus. They further said that out of the 66 Delta plus patients, 33 were in the 19 to 45 age group, 18 in the 46 to 60 age group, eight were aged over 60 age and seven were under 18. The statement continued and said that among the total patients, 34 were females and out of the total patients, 10 had taken both doses of vaccines, while eight others had been vaccinated with the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Out of the 18 vaccinated people, only two were vaccinated with Covaxin, while the rest were vaccinated with Covishield. 61 patients have already recovered from the delta plus variant, out of which 31 showed mild or no symptoms of the infection, said the health authority.

(With PTI inputs)