Mumbai, Aug 13 (IANS): Maharashtra has reported two more deaths of patients infected with the worrisome Delta Plus Covid-19 virus variant, taking the toll to five, with the number of patients standing at 66 till date, officials said.

Ratnagiri has recorded two deaths while one each was reported from Mumbai, Raigad, and Beed, leaving health officials concerned.

All the deceased were senior citizens above 65 years with various comorbidities, and two were fully vaccinated and two not inoculated, while the status of the fifth victim is being ascertained.

A 69-year-old man diagnosed with Delta Plus succumbed in Raigad's Nagothane, while a middle-aged woman infected by the same variant is under treatment in nearby Uran town.

Late on Thursday, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) received the Delta Plus positive sample reports of a 60-year-old woman from the eastern suburbs of the city, who had passed away on July 24.

Prior to that, the first patient of Delta Plus in the state - an 80-year-old man - had expired in Ratnagiri on June 25, and two patients, one each from Ratnagiri and Beed have also fallen victims to the new variant, said the officials.

On Wednesday, the Maharashtra Health Department had pegged the number of Delta Plus variant patients in the state at 66 - of whom 61 are fully recovered till date, as per data from the Institute of Genomics Integrative Biology lab.

Among these 66, the highest (13) are from Jalgaon, followed by 12 from Ratnagiri, 11 from Mumbai, six each in Thane and Pune, three in Palghar and Raigad, two each in Nanded, and Gondia, and one each from Sindhudurg, Aurangabad, Kolhapur, Sangli, Beed, Nandurbar, Akola, and Chandrapur.

The patients include 34 women and 32 men, and a whopping 33 cases - or nearly half - of those infected are in the 19-45 age group, while 17 are 46-60 years and seven in above-60 age group.

As a precaution, the Health Department has started searching for the close contacts of these infectees on a war footing, besides ascertaining their travel history, vaccination status, recent medical status and other relevant details to prevent more infections, said the officials.