Maharashtra records 91 cases of KP.2 variant of Omicron: Health department

Maharashtra has so far recorded 91 cases of the KP2 variant of Omicron including 51 in Pune the health department said on Monday reported news agency PTIStates genome sequencing coordinator Dr Rajesh Karyakarte said this is in addition to JN1 KP2 and KP11 subvariants of Omicron that have been recorded in Maharashtra He said both KP2 and KP11 are sublineages of JN1 reported PTIThane has recorded 20 cases of KP2 subvariant of Omicron seven each in Amravati and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar two in Solapur and one each in Sangli Latur Ahmednagar and Nashik he added reported PTIThe health department said Maharashtra on Monday recorded six new cases of COVID19 with three each in Mumbai and Pune cityMeanwhile in March Maharashtra experienced a slight increase in cases with an average of around 250 detections which is likely attributed to the spread of the KP2 variantEarlier as BritishSwedish pharma giant AstraZeneca recalled its Covid19 vaccine globally Punebased Serum Institute of India SII said it stopped the manufacturing and supply of additional doses of Covishield in December 2021AstraZeneca has voluntarily withdrawn the marketing authorisation of its Covid vaccine sold as Covishield in India and Vaxzevria in EuropeIn a statement to IANS an SII spokesperson said that with India achieving high vaccination rates in 2021 and 2022 coupled with the emergence of new mutant variant strains the demand for previous vaccines diminished significantlyConsequently since December 2021 we have stopped the manufacturing and supply of additional doses of Covishield the spokesperson addedThe Serum Institute said that they fully understand the ongoing concerns and its crucial to emphasise our commitment to transparency and safetyThe company said that from the outset we have disclosed all rare to very rare side effects including Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome in the packaging insert in 2021Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Syndrome TTS is a rare side effect that can cause people to have blood clots and a low blood platelet count linked to at least 81 deaths in the UK as well as hundreds of serious injuriesThe SII stressed that despite the challenges faced during the global pandemic the safety of the vaccine remains paramountRegardless of whether its AstraZenecas Vaxzervria or our own Covishield both vaccines have been instrumental in saving millions of lives worldwideWe commend the collaborative efforts of governments and ministries in facilitating a unified global response to the pandemic added the Serum InstituteWith inputs from PTI and IANS