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

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.

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

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.?

"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.

"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.

According to the Union health ministry’s updated data on Sunday, the country saw a single-day rise of 656 COVID-19 infections while the active cases have increased to 3,742.

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.