Vidarbha: Four Delta plus cases found in Chanda, Gondia & Akola

NAGPUR: Genome sequencing of samples of Covid-19 patients has revealed 20 more Delta plus variant patients in Maharashtra on Wednesday. Out of them, 2 are from Gondia and one each from Akola and Chandrapur. This marks the entry of Delta plus variant in Vidarbha.
Earlier, the Delta variant, which originated in Amravati, was prevalent in the region.

Experts told TOI, there is enough evidence that Delta plus variant is not as dangerous as the original Delta variant, which was predominant in the second wave in Vidarbha.

“It has been proved in even in Maharashtra that Delta plus variant patients have mild to moderate level of infection and not serious one. More such variants will continue to emerge,” said infectious disease specialist Dr Nitin Shinde.
The department of public health has appealed to the public to adopt Covid-appropriate behaviour without any fear as the virus continues to alter its genetic makeup and is part of the virus’s natural life cycle. Fast vaccination is also effective in controlling further mutations in viruses. If virus doesn’t get chance to multiply, chances of new mutation will also decline, it said.
Another respite factor for Vidarbha is that the samples which tested positive for Delta-plus variant were detected at least 2 weeks ago and sent for the testing then only. The fact that no spike or deaths were witnessed during the past two weeks suggests that Delta-plus is not posing any serious threat to the region.
Meanwhile, the respite from Covid-19 continued in the region even on Wednesday with only 31 out of 15,560 samples testing positive in 24 hours. The overall test positivity rate (TPR) hit record low of 0.19%. Bhandara and Gondia reported zero new cases, while highest of the day — six — were reported from Buldhana. On the other hand, 52 patients recovered. Vidarbha’s recovery rate is well above 98%.
No Covid death was reported for the second day in a row, and fifth time in 11 days of August. This indicates that deaths due to Covid-19 have significantly reduced. Only 449 patients are under treatment now in entire region.
Bhandara: The district witnessed another ‘Zero Day’ as no new case was detected out of 616 tests done in last 24 hours. Bhandara had no patient under treatment for one more day.
Gondia: No new case out of 394 tests and 1 recovery marked Wednesday in Gondia. Now, 2 patients are under treatment, with 1 of them in home isolation and 1 in Covid hospital under observation.
Wardha: A new Covid patient was reported from Deoli out of 436 test reports on Wednesday, taking the total case count to 49,382. After two patients were discharged, total recoveries have increased to 48,049, leaving 8 under treatment. No death was reported in the day and the Covid toll remained at 1,325.
Chandrapur: There was no Covid casualty, for the second consecutive day, on Wednesday keeping the toll unchanged at 1,537. With two new detections against three recoveries, now 72 patients are under treatment. Covid caseload grew to 88,550, while total recoveries to 86,941.
Amravati: Four new cases against seven recoveries meant the district was fairly ‘Covid-free’ on Wednesday. The caseload has now reached 96,589 and recoveries to 94,598. With no Covid death in the day, the toll stayed put at 1,562. This left 69 under treatment.
Yavatmal: The district saw 3 new cases and 2 recoveries on Wednesday. No Covid casualty was reported in the last 24 hours.
Gadchiroli: Five new cases and a recovery took total caseload in Gadchiroli to 30,647 and recoveries to 29,864. Overall Covid toll is 745 and 38 are under treatment.
Washim: Two new cases and 5 recoveries were reported in the day. With 41,030 patients out of 41,680 total cases recovered till date, Washim has 12 patients under treatment now.
Buldhana: The district conducted 2,507 tests in last 24 hours and six of them were positive. Eight patients recovered in the day. Now, Buldhana has 61 patients under treatment.
Akola: Total 758 tests were conducted out of which 3 were positive in Akola on Wednesday. With 5 patients recovering in the day, 47 patients are under treatment here.