80-year-old Ratnagiri woman becomes first casualty of Delta Plus variant in Maharashtra

Mumbai, Jun 25: Maharashtra on Friday reported the first death from the ''Delta Plus'' variant of COVID-19, with an octogenarian woman succumbing in Ratnagiri civil hospital, a senior official said.

The woman hails from Sangameswar and was admitted to the hospital, over 330 kilometres from Mumbai, a few days ago, Sanjay Shinde, Additional Collector, Ratnagiri told PTI.

He said the woman's death was being audited to see if she suffered from comorbidities.

Shinde said district officials have been told to increase awareness as well as sensitize people about appropriate COVID-19 behavior.

Forty-eight coronavirus cases of 'Delta Plus' variant have been detected from 45,000 samples sequenced so far in the country, with Maharashtra reporting the highest number of such cases at 20, the Centre said on Friday.

As per a PIB release, the characteristics of the Delta Plus variant include increased transmissibility, stronger binding to receptors of lung cells as well as potential reduction in monoclonal antibody response.