On August 6, Union Minister of State for Health Bharati Pawar informed Lok Sabha in a written reply that analysis of the genomic data is a continuous and ongoing process. (Representative image)

The cases of Delta plus variant of coronavirus have been increased to 45 in Maharashtra, said the state health department on August 8. These have been detected during genome sequencing, it said, adding one patient had died.

Of the 45 patients of Delta plus variant, a maximum (13) hailed from Jalgaon in north Maharashtra. Mumbai has so far recorded six such cases, Thane five and Pune three, as per the department.

"80 percent of the samples sent for genome sequencing had tested positive for the Delta Plus variant (of coronavirus). The 45 patients are from Jalgaon (13), Ratnagiri (11), Mumbai (6), Thane (5), Pune (3), and one each from Palghar, Sindhudurg, Sangli. Nandurbar, Aurangabad, Kolhapur, and Beed," the department said in a statement.

Of these 45 samples, information about 35 patients has been taken by the health department. One death was reported while the rest of the patients reported mild to medium type symptoms, it said.

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On August 6, Union Minister of State for Health Bharati Pawar informed Lok Sabha in a written reply that analysis of the genomic data is a continuous and ongoing process. Periodic updates are shared with experts and states and are also regularly made available in the public domain through the media bulletin of INSACOG (Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortium).

Explained: Beyond Delta, scientists are watching new coronavirus variants

States are regularly advised to send samples for genome sequencing and provide clinical data of positive persons to enable greater epidemiological insights to identify the link between the surge in cases at various places to the variants, the minister stated.

Elaborating on the steps being taken to check the spread of the Delta variant, Pawar said to monitor the variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, initially, genomic sequencing was conducted through the National Institute of Virology, Pune. Subsequently, the Union government established the INSACOG in December 2020 as a consortium of 10 laboratories of the Ministry of Health, Department of Biotechnology, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). The network of INSACOG laboratories has since been increased to 28, Pawar stated.

(With inputs from PTI)

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COVID-19 Update: Maharashtra logs 45 cases of Delta plus variant

In Delhi, the Delta variant of coronavirus has been detected in at least 80 percent of the samples sent for genome sequencing by the city government in the last three months

On August 6, Union Minister of State for Health Bharati Pawar informed Lok Sabha in a written reply that analysis of the genomic data is a continuous and ongoing process. (Representative image)

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