5 States report cases of new variant AY.4.2

    29-Oct-2021
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MUMBAI, Oct 28
Amid fear of COVID-19 third wave, the new AY.4.2 variant of coronavirus has reached Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Telangana and Jammu and Kashmir. The new variant is under investigation and according to experts the new variant is from the Delta plus variant family of COVID-19.
A slight increase in COVID-19 cases was recorded in Maharashtra on Wednesday, for the second day in a row. The State added a total of 1,485 new cases and 38 people died due to coronavirus.
India reported 16,156 new cases and 733 deaths in the last 24 hours. As per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare data, active caseload stands at 1,60,989.
Meanwhile, Government data has revealed that around 11 crore people are overdue to take their second jab of the COVID-19 vaccine despite crossing the waiting time gap between both doses. As per the vaccine data, over 3.92 crore beneficiaries are more than six weeks overdue for their second dose.
While around 1.57 crores are up to four to six weeks late, more than 1.50 crores are up to two to four weeks overdue for their second dose of the Covaxin or Covishield vaccine. Also, over 3.38 crore people are up to two weeks overdue to becoming fully vaccinated.
The Union Health Ministry has written to several States and Union Territories asking them to prioritise administering the second dose to beneficiaries who are yet to take their second dose.
DNA