Mumbai, Jun 25 (PTI) Maharashtra on Friday reported the first death from the 'Delta Plus' variant of COVID-19, with an octogenarian woman succumbing in Ratnagiri civil hospital, a senior official said.

The woman hails from Sangameswar and was admitted to the hospital, over 330 kilometres from Mumbai, a few days ago, Sanjay Shinde, Additional Collector, Ratnagiri told PTI.

He said the woman's death was being audited to see if she suffered from comorbidities.

Shinde said district officials have been told to increase awareness as well as sensitize people about appropriate COVID-19 behavior.

Forty-eight coronavirus cases of ‘Delta Plus' variant have been detected from 45,000 samples sequenced so far in the country, with Maharashtra reporting the highest number of such cases at 20, the Centre said on Friday.

As per a PIB release, the characteristics of the Delta Plus variant include increased transmissibility, stronger binding to receptors of lung cells as well as potential reduction in monoclonal antibody response.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)