Maharashtra has reported 45 cases of Delta Plus variant so far

After a steady spell of recoveries, Maharashtra’s cases rose slightly with 5,508 new COVID-19 cases reported on Sunday as against just 4,895 patients being discharged even as the State Health Department said 45 cases of the Delta Plus variant had been found till date.

Authorities said apart from a single death (of an octogenarian in June) in Ratnagiri district, the symptoms observed were mild in 34 patients about whom information had been collected till now.

Of these, 27 samples are male and the remaining 18 female while the maximum samples — 13 — are from Jalgaon district in north Maharashtra followed by Ratnagiri (11) in the Konkan region. Mumbai has reported six, followed by Thane and Pune, which have recorded five and three samples of the new variant respectively.

Meanwhile, the State’s active case tally incrementally rose to 71,510.

As many as 151 deaths pushed the State’s cumulative death toll to 1,33,717. The case fatality rate stands at 2.1%.

The total cases have reached 63,53,328 while the cumulative recoveries have risen to 61,44,388 with the recovery rate standing at 96.71%.

“Of a total 4,95,68,519 laboratory samples tested thus far, 63,53,328 (with the average case positivity falling incrementally to 12.82%) have returned positive with over 1.96 lakh samples being tested in the last 24 hours,” State Surveillance Officer Dr. Pradeep Awate said.

Pune recorded more than 950 new cases, taking its total case tally to 10,97,081 while 12 deaths pushed the toll over 18,400. As per district authorities, the active cases have declined to stand at a little over 8,700.

Mumbai reported 305 new cases to take its total tally to 7,37,497 while the active count has dipped to 4,645. Nine fatalities took the city’s death toll to 15,951.

Ahmednagar registered more than 750 cases and six deaths, taking its total cases to 2,92,742 of whom 6,601 are active. The district’s fatality toll has gone up to 6,275.

Kolhapur added more than 450 new cases, taking its total case tally to 1,98,265. The active cases fell incrementally to 4,747. As many as 32 fatalities were reported, pushing the toll to 5,613.

Satara logged 541 new cases and 23 deaths to take the total tally to 2,24,210 of whom 7,783 are active, while the death toll climbed to 5,386.

Neighbouring Sangli reported 573 new cases and 14 deaths. The total cases stand at 1,90,971 with the active tally falling to 7,370 while its death toll touched 5,179.