Shimla, Jun 28 (IANS): The Himachal Pradesh government on Monday said no case of Delta Plus strain has been reported in the state. However, the second wave has witnessed a higher rate of mortality.

A total of 1,113 samples had been sent to the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in Delhi for testing the variant of concern amongst the positive cases in the state.

As per the reports received, 109 samples have shown presence of UK strains, whereas eight samples tested positive for the Kappa strain and 76 samples turned out positive for the Delta strain.

However, no case of Delta Plus strain has been reported, an official statement said.

The second wave of the pandemic has claimed 1,493 more lives so far compared to the first wave. The number of positive cases in the first wave was 58,403, while in the second wave the cases rose to 143,262 till June 27.

The positivity rate also increased to more than double in the second wave. There have been 2,475 deaths in the second wave as compared to the first when 982 deaths were reported.

It said the case fatality rate has increased from 1.68 to 1.72 in the second wave and was double as compared to the first wave. A positivity rate of 5.48 was seen in the first wave and a positivity rate of 10.73 has been seen in the second wave.