Maharashtra brings back some Covid curbs after Delta Plus cases found in state

Maharashtra has cancelled the first and the second level of unlocking where almost all activities have resumed in the past few days.

The Maharashtra government on Friday decided to bring back some Covid-19 restrictions in the state after Delta Plus variant cases have been reported in the state. Instead of a five-level unlock, which the government announced earlier, there will be three-level restrictions now. The decision has been taken considering cases of Delta plus variant cases found in the state, the government said. In the first week of June, the Maharashtra government announced a 5-level unlocking plan, ending the month-long lockdown-like period. The number of daily cases started to climb down, but the government decided to unlock in levels allowing districts with better Covid-19 situation to reopen the maximum, while district with higher positivity rate retained restrictions. But now there will be no district complete relaxations, the government has said.

Maharashtra was alerted by the Centre recently after the state reported Delta Plus cases. (PTI)

"Given that the virus causing Covid-19 is undergoing mutations in various geographic and that their mutations are displaying more transmissibility and potential reductions in monoclonal antibody response, a state-level trigger mandating all the administrative units, irrespective of values of the indices of weekly positivity rate and oxygen bed occupancy percentage to remain at a level, not below 3 is to be in operation till withdrawn by specific order of SDMA," the order said.

The Delta variant of the Covid-19 has emerged as a variant of concern and another mutation of Delta, Delta Plus, has been found in India. The first case of Delta Plus was detected in a sample collected in Maharashtra in April, the government has said. This indicates that though the variant has been reported recently, cases were already there in India in April during the peak of the second wave. Ratnagiri and Jalgaon are the two areas where the Delta Plus samples were found, the Centre said and asked the government to focus on containment.

Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope recently said though the Covid-19 situation of the state was improving, the number of daily cases is not coming below 8,000, which is concerning. The Covid-19 task force of the Maharashtra government has also warned that Delta Plus variant might be the reason for the third wave of the pandemic in Maharashtra.