30 people infected with Delta variant in Maharashtra's Nashik

Around 30 people from Maharashtra's Nashik district have tested positive for Delta variant of the Coronavirus. Dr Kishore Shrinivas, a surgeon working in Nashik District Hospital said that 28 patients are from rural areas while 2 others are from Gangapur and Sadique Nagar.

Nashik (Maharashtra): As many as 30 people across Maharashtra's Nashik (नाशिक) have been infected with Delta (डेल्टा) variant of COVID-19, the Nashik District Hospital on Friday informed media agencies. "30 people have been infected with Delta variant in Nashik. 28 patients are from rural areas. 2 patients are from Gangapur and Sadique Nagar. Several patients are from Sinnar, Yeola, Nandgaon, Niphad etc. as well," Dr Kishore Shrinivas, a surgeon at the Nashik District Hospital said, adding that the samples were sent for genome sequencing to Pune, following which all the samples tested positive for the Delta variant.

District Collector Suraj Mandhare has informed that 1 patient is from Nashik city and the rest are from Sinnar, Yeola, Nandgaon and Kalvan talukas. It has been a week since Covid restrictions have been relaxed in Nashik. Immediately following a rise in Delta variant cases, the health department along with the district administration were alerted. This has led to the possibility of restrictions being reimposed in rural areas.

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The surgeon further advised people to take precautions by sanitizing frequently, wear masks and maintain social distancing as the Delta variant spreads through overcrowding and close physical contact. Delta variant which is identified as 'B.1.617.2' variant of the COVID-19 virus, has been first identified in India and is believed to have led to the deadly second wave of the pandemic which swamped the country's healthcare systems.

What is Delta variant?

Delta is the most contagious of all Coronavirus variants known. The original Wuhan strain was overtaken by the more contagious D614G strain by March 2020, and that virus was responsible for the Victorian second wave. Then in September, Alpha emerged in the United Kingdom, and was even more contagious. Alpha seemed set to dominate the world by early 2021, but then Delta emerged and swept the world. It has mutations that make it more contagious than Alpha, and more able to evade the immunity conferred by vaccines.

One study found the amount of virus shed from people infected with Delta to be over 1,000 times greater than from the original 2020 strain identified in Wuhan. Another study, which hasn't yet been peer reviewed, showed Delta is more than twice as likely to cause hospitalization, ICU admission and death.

Read:China sounds COVID-19 alarm as Delta variant spreads to 18 provinces