Mumbai: Maharashtra health department on Saturday said that the state reported 529 new cases of coronavirus but no virus-related death. Besides this, for the first time, four patients of B.A. 4 variant and three cases of B.A. 5 variants of the Omicron sub-lineage of coronavirus were found with mild symptoms in Maharashtra.
These sub-lineages of Omicron were found in April in some parts of the world including South Africa, but until now no cases had been detected in the state. The whole genome sequencing was conducted by the Institute of Science Education and Research, and its finding has been confirmed by the Indian Biological Data Centre in Faridabad. As many as seven patients, all from Pune, were detected with the infection of the sub-lineage of Omicron, the official said.
Four patients have the infection of B.A. 4 variant while others have contracted the B.A. 5. Four of them are men and three women. Four patients are above 50 years of age while two are in 20-40 age group while one patient is a nine-year-old child, he added. All the six adults have completed both the dosages of vaccine while one has taken the booster shot too. The child is unvaccinated. All of them had mild symptoms of COVID-19 and were treated successfully in home isolation, the official said.
Their samples were taken between May 4 and 18. Two of them had travelled to South Africa and Belgium, while three had travelled to Kerala and Karnataka. The other two patients had no recent travel history, he said.
Also read: Mumbai sees 151 COVID-19 cases, 1 death, 122 recoveries
The tally of infections in the state rose to 78,85,394, while the death toll remained unchanged at 1,47,858. The state had recorded 536 new cases and zero deaths the day before. As many as 325 people were discharged from hospitals or recovered at home on Saturday, taking the count of recoveries to 77,34,764, leaving the state with 2,772 active cases.
The fatality rate stands at 1.87 per cent, while the recovery rate is 98.09 per cent. Mumbai reported 330 new cases, followed by neighbouring Thane city with 38, Pune with 32 and Navi Mumbai with 31 cases. Mumbai circle which includes neighbouring satellite towns and municipal corporations reported 448 cases of COVID-19, while the Pune circle recorded 64 infections. At least 22,618 swab sample were tested in the last 24 hours, increasing the total of coronavirus tests carried out in the state to 8,08,64,421. Maharashtra's coronavirus figures: Fresh cases: 529, Total COVID-19 cases: 78,85,394, Death: 1,47,858, Tests: 8,08,64,421, Discharged patients: 77,34,764.
