No foreign Covid strains found in Amravati, Yavatmal, says Maharashtra govt

According to a statement by the health department, four samples each from these three districts were tested at Pune’s B J Medical College where no mutation similar to the ones found in the UK, South Africa or Brazil was detected.

With Maharashtra witnessing a rise in its daily Covid-19 cases, the state government said on Friday that new strains originating from South Africa, Brazil and the United Kingdom (UK) were not found in Amravati, Yavatmal and Satara districts - the three districts reporting a sudden surge in the number of cases.

Maharashtra on Friday recorded 6,112 fresh cases and 44 more related deaths which pushed the overall tally to nearly 2.1 million and the death toll to 51,713. (Ravindra Joshi/HT file photo)

According to a statement by the health department, four samples each from these three districts were tested at Pune’s B J Medical College where no mutation similar to the ones found in the UK, South Africa or Brazil was detected. It added that more samples were taken from Amravati and Yavatmal and were sent to the National Institute of Virology and the National Centre for Cell Science.

Friday’s update by the state government comes just a day after an official had told news agency PTI that researches had discovered two new mutations in Covid-19 samples from Amravati and Yavatmal- both a part of Maharashtra’s eastern region. Dr Rajesh Karyekarte from the B J Medical College said on Thursday that the two new mutations were characterised by the virus’ ability to escape neutralising antibodies in the host person’s body.

Meanwhile, the Amaravati district has seen the biggest surge in the Covid-19 disease cases since this week. The fresh cases jumped from 82 on February 16 to 230 on February 17. Apart from the mutations, the carelessness of people, in general, is being blamed for the sudden spike. A weekend lockdown has been imposed in Yavatmal from February 20, 8pm to February 22, 7 am with district collector Shailesh Naval urging residents to abide by all Covid-19 norms failing which strict action would be taken by authorities. A 10-day lockdown has been imposed in Yavatmal district.

Maharashtra on Friday recorded 6,112 fresh cases and 44 more related deaths which pushed the overall tally to nearly 2.1 million and the death toll to 51,713. A total of 1,989,963 have recovered in the state till now after 2,159 recoveries were added today.

(With PTI inputs)