Maharashtra: Delta-plus cases rise to 65 in 17 districts, 80% infection Delta

MUMBAI: Maharashtra now has 65 confirmed cases of Delta-plus in 17 districts, up from 45 cases till early this week, the health department said. But Delta-plus has been found in less than 1% of the 8,000-odd samples sequenced. The predominant variant in the state is still Delta, found in 80% of the samples sequenced.
Delta-plus or the ‘AY.1’ variant has mutated from the highly transmissible Delta variant (B.1.617.2) that was first isolated in India and is currently the dominant variant world over. Delta-plus, though feared to be highly transmissible since it had mutated from Delta, doesn’t seem to have spread that swiftly.
Delta is believed to have driven the devastating second wave in the country.
Of the 65 Delta-plus cases, Jalgaon has the highest (13), followed by Ratnagiri (12) and Mumbai (11). Thane and Pune have six cases each while Palghar has three. Nanded and Gondia have two cases each. Chandrapur, Akola, Sindhudurg, Sangli, Nandurbar, Aurangabad, Kolhapur and Beed districts have one each. The first batch of 21 Delta-plus cases was detected in June from six districts.
“Of the 8,000-9,000 samples sequenced, we have found only 65. It can’t be called a rise. It is because of better surveillance and lesser turnaround time for genome sequencing that we have been able to detect more,” said Dr Pradeep Awate, state surveillance officer
Awate added that most Delta-plus patients showed mild symptoms or were asymptomatic. Of the 65 cases, 33 are women and 32 men. Most cases (33) were found in the 19-45 age group, followed by 17 among 46-60 years. Seven minors and 8 persons above 60 years are among the Delta-plus patients. Seven of the 20 new cases were found in Mumbai and three in Pune.