While 128 patients are found infected with the Delta Plus, two were Alpha types, 24 were Kappa types, and the rest showing common Covid-19 virus infections.
The researchers, however, noted that with Delta, Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and Oxford-AstraZeneca preventive, known as Covishield in India, still offer good protection against new infections.
Among the 66 patients, 10 had taken both doses of vaccines. Eight others had taken the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Two of these 18 people had taken Covaxin and 16 Covishield.
A 63-year-old woman, infected with the Delta plus variant of Covid-19, died on Thursday. This is the first such death in the city.
As many as 105 swab samples collected from the district were sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune in the last week of June for genome sequencing and two of them tested positive for the Delta plus variant, according to Dr Nitin Kapse, District Health Officer.
Of the fresh cases, the maximum - seven - are from Mumbai, followed by three from Pune, two each from Palghar, Raigad, Nanded, and Gondia, and one each from Akola and Chandrapur districts.
ICMR reveals that Covaxin is effective against the Delta Plus variant of COVID 19.
The document from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) outlines unpublished data that shows fully vaccinated people might spread the Delta variant, first identified in India, at the same rate as unvaccinated people.
Antibody levels against the Delta variant in people aged 18 to 55 who receive a third dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine are greater than five-fold than following a second dose, according to data posted at the company's teleconference, Xinhua reported.
DOH said that Philippines now has 119 Delta variant cases after detecting an additional 55 infections, reports Xinhua news agency.
A woman medico, who was India's first COVID-19 case, has tested positive again for the virus, health authorities said here on Tuesday.
Delta variant is expected to soon be the dominant COVID-19 strain circulating worldwide, says WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The Kappa strain of coronavirus was detected during the genome sequencing exercise. Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said earlier also cases of this variant were found in the state.
The Delhi govenment has prepared a 'Graded Response Action Plan' to deal with the possible third wave of Covid-19.
In May this year, 100 samples were routinely sent to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Delhi, and reports were received earlier this week.
Delta, which was first found in India and is now in over 100 countries, represented 51.7 per cent of new infections in the US over the two weeks ending July 3, Xinhua news agency reported citing the CDC.
The urgency coincides with Europe's summer holiday months, with fair weather bringing more social gatherings and govts reluctant to clamp down on them.
The anti-COVID-19 vaccines by US pharma majors Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson (J&J) that are being used in South Africa are more effective against the Delta variant of the coronavirus than the Beta strain, experts have said.
WHO DG Tedros Ghebreyesus said in countries with low vaccination coverage, terrible scenes of hospitals overflowing are again becoming the norm.
"Last week, the number of cases rose by 10 per cent. This is taking place in the context of a rapidly evolving situation, a new variant of concern, the Delta variant, and in a region where despite tremendous efforts by the member states, millions remain unvaccinated," the WHO's Regional Director for Europe, Hans Kluge said at an online press conference in here on Thursday.
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