Maharashtra minister Dhananjay Munde tests positive for coronavirus

Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Dhananjay Munde. File Pic

Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Dhananjay Munde has tested positive for coronavirus, state Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said on Monday, reported news agency PTI.

There is no need to panic about the viral infection, Pawar told reporters.

"One of my cabinet colleagues, Dhananjay Munde, has tested positive for COVID-19. However, the administration is taking care in the state and necessary instructions to check its spread have been given to officials," he said, reported PTI.

Munde's office also confirmed that he has tested positive for the coronavirus. The variant details were not revealed, reported PTI.

He tested positive on the last day (December 20) of the state legislature's winter session held in Nagpur, said a staffer from the minister's office, reported PTI.

"The minister went home on December 21, remained in isolation and took the medication prescribed by doctors. There are no symptoms now and he has already started holding video conferences and taking follow-ups on several works," he said, reported PTI.

"Some of his office staffers also felt unwell, but we all followed the protocol and avoided mixing with people. Now, none of us have any symptoms of the infection," the staffer added, reported PTI.

According to the Union health ministry's updated data on Monday, India recorded a single-day rise of 628 new COVID-19 cases while the active caseload jumped to 4,054.

The total fatalities were recorded at 5,33,334 (5.33 lakh) with one new death reported from Kerala in the previous 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The country's Covid case tally is currently at 4,50,09,248 (4.50 crore).

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has classified the new JN.1 strain as a separate "variant of interest" given its rapidly increasing spread but said that it poses a "low" global public health risk.

Maharashtra on Sunday reported 50 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of infections since the beginning of the spread of novel coronavirus to 81,72,135 nearly three years ago, said a bulletin by the health department.

Of the fresh cases, nine were caused by JN.1, increasing the number of infections tied to the new sub-variant in the state to 10, it said.

(With inputs from PTI)