66 Delta plus patients found in Maharashtra so far; 5 of them dead

As many as 66 people have been found infected with the Delta plus variant of coronavirus in Maharashtra so far, some of them fully vaccinated, and five of them have died, including one in Mumbai, the state health department said on Friday.

Seven of these patients were aged under 18.

The variant, considered highly infectious, was detected during genome sequencing of swab samples sent from different parts of the state.

A 63-year-old fully vaccinated woman from Mumbai succumbed to the infection in the last week of July, the first death due to the Delta Plus variant in the city, a civic official said.

Following the woman's death in Mumbai, at least two of her close contacts were also found infected with the variant, said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official.

A resident of suburban Ghatkopar, the woman died on July 27 in the ICU of a hospital. Only on August 11 the state authorities learnt that she had Delta Plus variant infection after the genome sequencing report came, the official said.

The woman had taken both the doses of Covishield vaccine, but tested coronavirus positive on July 21, he said.

According to a health department statement, a 50-year-old woman from Thane was found coronavirus positive on July 22 and her report received on Friday revealed she was infected with the Delta plus variant.

The woman had mild symptoms and she has since recovered, the statement said.

Among the five deaths linked to the Delta plus variant, two patients were from Ratnagiri district and one each from Raigad, Beed and Mumbai, the department said.

The maximum number of Delta plus patients - 13 - hailed from Jalgaon in north Maharashtra followed by Ratnagiri at 12 and Mumbai 11, it said.

Six patients each were from Thane and Pune districts, three each from Palghar and district, two each from Nanded and Gondia, one each from Chandrapur, Akola, Sindhudurg, Sangli, Nandurbar, Aurangabad, Kolhapur and Beed, according to the department.

It said, "80 per cent of the samples sent for genome sequencing had tested positive for the Delta plus variant (of coronavirus)." 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, it said.

According to the statement, among the total patients 34 are females.

Among the 66 patients, 10 had taken both doses of vaccines. Eight others had taken the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Two of these 18 people had taken Covaxin and 16 Covishield, the statement said.

Of the total patients, 61 have already recovered and 31 of them showed mild or no symptoms of the infection, it said.

Earlier, an 80-year-old woman from Ratnagiri district who had been infected with the Delta Plus variant died on June 13. She was not vaccinated, officials said.

The Delta plus death from Raigad district was reported from Nagothane, about 100km from Mumbai, in July.

Nidhi Chaudhari, Raigad collector, told PTI that a 69-year-old man who was suffering from co-morbidities tested positive on July 15 and died on July 22. The report about his Delta Plus infection was received later, she said.

"This person was fully vaccinated," the collector said.