COVID Delta Plus Variant: Mumbai Sees 1st Death; Maharashtra Toll Reaches 3

The total number of patients infected with the Delta Plus variant of COVID in Maharashtra has reached 65.

Mumbai recorded its first death due to the Delta Plus variant of COVID-19 with a fully vaccinated, 63-year-old woman in Ghatkopar, having succumbed to the infection on 27 July.

(Photo: iStock)

Mumbai recorded its first death due to the Delta Plus variant of COVID-19 with a fully vaccinated, 63-year-old woman in Ghatkopar, having succumbed to the infection on 27 July.

This is the second death caused due to the Delta Plus variant in Maharashtra, with the first being an 80-year-old woman from Ratnagiri, who passed away on 13 June.

Another death has been reported in Raigad district due to Delta Plus variant, Raigad Collector Nidhi Chaudhary said, according to news agency ANI. The deceased was a 69-year-old man from the Nagothane area.

The Delta Plus variant refers to a mutation found in the B.1.617.2 variant of SARS-CoV-2 – also called the Delta variant – which was first identified in India and was the dominant variant during the second wave.

After having acquired the K417N spike mutation – it formed the ‘Delta Plus’ or AY.1 variant.

The Union Health Ministry had declared it as variant of concern in June.

The cause of the death of the Mumbai woman was established to be the Delta Plus variant on 11 August. Moreover, two of her contacts have been detected with the same, The Indian Express reported.

After the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was informed by the state health department that a genome sequencing test conducted on a few COVID patients had found seven people carrying the Delta Plus variant in Mumbai, the BMC started contacting these patients.

According to initial information provided by the civic health officials, the deceased patient had several comorbidities, including diabetes, interstitial lung and obstructive airway diseases, and didn’t have any travel history.

The 80-year-old woman died on 13 June and was identified to be infected with the Delta Plus variant after her genome sequencing report was submitted to the state health department on 20 June.

The total number of Delta Plus cases in Maharashtra has reached 65, The Indian Express reported.

Thirty-two people of the 65 infected are men, while the maximum number of cases have been reported in the 19 to 45 age group.

(With inputs from The Indian Express and Hindustan Times)