The Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday that out of 45,000 samples sequenced in India, the Delta plus variant – AY.1 – was reported in three states – Maharashtra, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh with “around 40 cases identified” and “no significant increase in prevalence”. The states were asked to take measures to prevent its spread.
On Wednesday, the country crossed the 3-crore mark in the total number of COVID-19 cases reported in the country since the outbreak of the pandemic, reaching 3,00,28,709 cases. Of this, the number of cases reported on Wednesday was 50,848 cases. This is a higher number than what it was the previous day. The number of active cases however, dipped on Wednesday. There were 1,358 deaths reported in the past 24 hours.
