Mumbai: The city has recorded its first death due to the Delta Plus variant of Covid-19. The victim, a 63-year-old fully vaccinated woman from the Eastern suburbs, died on July 27. She was one of the seven people in Mumbai who had recently tested positive for the Delta Plus variant.
It has now emerged that six close contacts of the victim were found Covid positive. However, samples of two of these contacts were detected with the Delta Plus variant in the whole genome sequencing, while results of others are still awaited.
According to the BMC, the victim had several comorbidities, including diabetes. A BMC official said that the woman, who was vaccinated with Covishield, was detected with Covid-19 on July 21. She had a dry cough, loss of taste and body ache. She was admitted to ICU on July 24 and was put on oxygen support, but died on July 27. “The patient had a lung disease and obstructive airway disease, for which she was taking oxygen treatment at home before COVID-19 infection and she didn’t have any travel history,” a BMC official said.
Six of her family members have also been found Covid-19 positive. Two of them have been detected with the Delta Plus variant after genome sequencing. The death takes the state’s toll due to Delta Plus to two. Last month, an 80-year-old woman from Ratnagiri became the first Covid-19 patient in the state to succumb to the Delta Plus variant of the infection.
Of the latest seven patients identified with the Delta Plus variant, three are fully vaccinated, while one has taken the first dose. “All seven patients are stable. We are gathering more information on the seven new cases,” said BMC’s executive health officer, Dr Mangala Gomare. With the Delta Plus variant raising fears of a third wave, a senior healthcare official said that there was a need to speed up the genome sequencing.
Dr Harish Chafle, a senior consultant for pulmonology and critical care, Global Hospitals, Parel, said the Delta Plus variant was 60% to 65% more virulent compared to other variants. “This doesn’t mean the Delta Plus variant will necessarily drive the third wave. It is essential to cover the mouth and the nose and follow a regular hand wash regime,” he said.
