In the past 24 hours, the city reported a total of 1,724 cases or 54 per cent surge as compared to Monday figures, while two patients died of the virus. “Both the patients, who succumbed to the infection, were women above 60 years with comorbidities,” a doctor said.
With the new infected individuals being found, the test positivity rate has now jumped to 15.54 per cent as compared to Tuesday’s 12 per cent. Currently, Mumbai’s Covid count stands at 10,83,589, with 19,573 fatalities till now.
Likewise, Maharashtra also witnessed a spurt with 2,956 cases being reported in the last 24 hours, which means 57 per cent rise, pushing its tally to 79,15,418 cases. Moreover, four fatalities were reported across the state, increasing the death toll to 1,47,875 fatalities.
As per the latest report of the National Institute of Virology, Pune, 2 more patients of BA.5 variants have been found in Thane city. One of the patients is a 25-year-old woman and the other is a 32-year-old man. These patients were found to be infected with Covid in May. Both of them have recovered in home isolation. “According to the information given by the Pune’s BJ Medical College after analysing recent samples, BA.2 is the most prominent variant followed by BA.2.38,” said state surveillance officer Dr Pradip Awate.
Explaining about the differences in variants, P D Hinduja Hospital consultant pulmonologist and epidemiologist Dr Lancelot Pinto said, “These are all sublineages of Omicron and none of them have been proven to be more virulent (cause more severe disease) than the original strains. In fact, reports from South Africa suggested that the newer lineages may be less virulent based on hospitalisation rates. While focusing on strain types is important from an epidemiological perspective, presently, this may not have any clinical relevance.”
