Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope said a total of 45 cases of the Delta plus variant of coronavirus had been reported in the state during genome sequencing.

 

However, the health minister said there was no need to worry as the symptoms registered for both Delta plus and Delta plus variant were the same and adequate care was taken of these cases by the public health department to check for their travel history, their vaccination status or whether they have any other comorbidities.

"We are keeping a close watch on these patients and their contacts," said the health minister.

Of 45 detected cases of Delta plus variant, 27 are male. The cases are spread across Jalgaon, Ratnagiri, Pune, Thane, Mumbai, Sangli, Sindhudurg, Palghar, Aurangabad and Beed.

Health officials told TOI that all the detected cases were stable and there had been only one death registered so far. Every district sends 100 random samples for genome sequencing as part of a collaboration with the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology with the state government.

"The report is regularly provided under this project," the health minister added. According to the data, nearly 20 people are in the age group of 19-45, 14 between the age group of 46-60. The maximum cases are from Jalgaon (13) and Ratnagiri(11) districts. The administrations have been asked to focus on these cases and their contacts and collect the relevant data as cited by the public health department.

Health officials said that while there was a slight increase in the numbers, there was no reason to panic. Meanwhile, under the countrywide data, there have been 83 cases of Delta plus variant registered.

While relaxations have been given to many districts that have registered a low positivity rate below the state government's average weekly positivity rate, the minister said that the overall tally is not significantly dipping which is of concern.

"We are seeing a plateau for over a month in the daily cases. The range currently is between 5,000-6,000 and we need the cases to decline. For this, Covid appropriate behaviour is the most important followed by testing, tracking and vaccination," he said.