Maharashtra: 18 Cases Of XBB Variant Of Covid Detected In 15 Days, Reports INSACOG

According to the health official, 13 of these cases are from Pune, two each from Nagpur and Thane and one from Akola district.

A health worker talks to youths as they wait to receive a dose of a Covid-19 (Source: File photo/AFP)

New Delhi: In Maharashtra, 18 cases of sub-variant XBB of the Omicron variant of Coronavirus have been reported, the state health department said on Wednesday, as reported by news agency PTI. These cases have been found in the first fortnight of October i.e. between October 1 and 15. According to the health official, 13 of these cases are from Pune, two each from Nagpur and Thane and one from Akola district.

“As per INSACOG labs' latest report, 18 cases of XBB variant have been reported in the state in the first fortnight of October month,” he said.

Apart from these cases, Pune has also reported one case each of BQ.1 and BA.2.3.20 sub-variants. These cases are from the time of September 24 to October 11.

According to the primary information, all these cases are mild. It said that 15 out of these 20 cases (18 of XBB and one each of BQ.1 and BA.2.3.20) were vaccinated against Coronavirus while data on the rest five cases is to be gotten.

The BQ.1 case in Pune is of mild variety and has a history of travel to the USA. "Genetic mutations are part of the natural life cycle of the virus and there is no need to be concerned about this but to take appropriate precautions for COVID containment," it said.

According to the Hindustan Times report, BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 are the two sub-variants that were derived from the BA.5 variant of Omicron. Both of these are said to be quite dangerous, as they can also dodge immunity against COVID-19. Of all the active cases of Coronavirus in America, 10% of people have been infected with these sub-variants only.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra on Wednesday recorded 418 fresh coronavirus-positive cases and three fatalities, which raised the overall infection tally to 81,28,676 and the death count to 1,48,377, a health department said, as reported ANI.

(With PTI Inputs)