Maharashtra records third death due to Delta Plus variant
Delta Plus, a mutation of the highly transmissible Delta variant, was detected in Maharashtra during the second Covid-19 wave. In June, the Union health ministry declared it as the variant of concern
A 69-year-old fully vaccinated journalist has died of Delta Plus variant of Covid-19 at Nagothane in Maharashtra’s Raigad district, a health official said. He is the third person to die of this variant in Maharashtra. An 80-year-old woman from Ratnagiri was the first person in the state to succumb to the variant followed by a 63-year-old woman from Mumbai.
Delta Plus, a mutation of the highly transmissible Delta variant, was detected in Maharashtra during the second Covid-19 wave. In June, the Union health ministry declared it as the variant of concern.
The journalist suffered from multiple co-morbidities and was admitted to the civil hospital for nearly 17 days. He died on July 22.Civil surgeon Suhas Mane said the patient was fully vaccinated in May.
This is Maharashtra’s third fatality linked to the Delta Plus variant-
Maharashtra has recorded 65 cases of the Delta Plus variant. Each district has been mandated to send 100 samples of Covid-19 patients every month for genome sequencing for its detection. The journalist’s sample was among those sent from Raigad in July.
A 44-year-old teacher from Uran was also found to have been infected with the Delta Plus variant after getting fully vaccinated. She recovered without any complications. During the contact tracing exercise, the Raigad health officials found four family members of the journalist and five close contacts of the teacher were infected with Covid-19. “We have sent their samples for genome sequencing. However, none of them had severe disease and all have recovered at home,” said Raigad’s district health officer Sudhakar More.