10 vaccinated among 66 Delta Plus cases in Maharashtra

With BMC confirming Mumbairsquos first death from Delta Plus variant health experts say genome sequencing and an aggressive vaccination drive will go a long way in fighting Covid19 So far 66 Delta Plus cases have been reported the state government said on Friday Among them 10 people were fully vaccinated while eight had taken only one dose of the vaccine before falling illThe state health department in its report added that 31 of the 66 Delta Plus cases had mild symptoms and didnrsquot require hospitalisation The genome testing confirmed five deaths due to Delta Plus and all of them were above the age of 65 year and had comorbidities Two of the five deaths happened in Ratnagiri and one each in Beed Mumbai and RaigadWhile the deceased from Raigad and Mumbai had taken both the vaccine doses the three others were not vaccinated A 69yearold man from Raigad died on July 22 and an 80yearold woman from Ratnagiri passed away on June 13Deceased from GhatkoparOn Thursday the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporationrsquos health department had said that a 63yearold woman from Ghatkopar had tested positive on July 21 and was admitted to hospital on July 24 She passed away on July 27 The BMC learnt from the state on August 11 that she was among the first Delta Plus casualties across the stateA passenger is tested for Covid19 on arrival at Dadar station on Friday PicAshish RajeShe had interstitial lung disease and obstructive airway disease for which she was taking oxygen treatment at home since before Covid19 She had no history of travel or past infection said the BMCSamples of six of her close contacts were sent for genome sequencing and results of two confirmed Delta Plus infection said the BMC Results of others are awaited All of them are fine said a civic officialVaccination importantDr Rahul Pandit critical care specialist at Fortis Hospital said ldquoI know deaths are happening even among vaccinated individuals But that vaccination is the best way forward against Covid19 With vaccination the proportion of the vulnerable population will reduce leaving a significant number of people with a good amount of antibodies It will also halt the emergence of new variantsrdquoDr Pandit who is also on the statersquos Covid Task Force pointed to the new data on AstraZenecarsquos Covid19 vaccine Covishield in India from the UK and called it encouraging ldquoThe study shows hospitalisation has not increasedrdquo he saidTracing also crucialHe added that testing and contact tracing will play a key role in the coming days as the city reopens Currently an average of 30000 tests are conducted daily in the city and about 1 lakh in the state said Dr Pandit adding that the figures need to go upCalling Delta and Delta Plus as sinister variants Dr Shashank Joshi another state Covid19 Task Force member said ldquoThough the number of Delta Plus cases is low it is too early to jump to conclusions We should not let our guards down and have stringent genomic surveillance to trace the cases isolate and treat them to stop further spreadrdquolsquoNeed more datarsquoOn the fully vaccinated status of two deceased Dr Joshi said ldquoImmune escape with Delta Plus is well known These deaths are isolated cases Itrsquos difficult to reach any conclusion We need much more datardquoReferring to the Lambda variant which is dominating Peru Dr Om Shrivastav an infectious disease expert and a state Covid Task Force member said the future of Covid19 handling is intense vaccination drives and genome studies He said Delta Plus deaths arenrsquot alarming but we need to look into details to ensure not to miss out on any aspects that could emerge as a problem laterGenome sequencing in cityAdditional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani said ldquoWe have started collecting samples for genome sequencing Our focus is on patients who have died during treatment and whose recovery took a long time and were critical We are also keeping an eye on people coming to Mumbai from abroad and other parts of India Our strategy is to help find if there are any other variants in the communityrdquoRaigad Collector Nidhi Chaudhary said the district had only two Delta Plus cases while one died another a 44yearold woman has recovered and is doing well ldquoThere is a certain percentage of the population who have died even after taking both the vaccine doses because of being immunocompromisedrdquo She added ldquoWe contacted 20 close contacts of these two patients out of which four were found positive They are all doing wellrdquo