New UK COVID Mutant Strain Detected in 73 People

About 73 people have been detected with the new "more transmissible" UK coronavirus mutant strain. The Central government said that everyone of them they is kept in physical isolation in health facilities and regular advice is being provided to the //states for enhanced surveillance, containment, testing and dispatch of samples to labs.

Out of these total cases, eight have been detected by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in Delhi, 20 at the CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) in Delhi, and 11 at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS) in Bangaluru.

RT-PCR Test Mandatory for UK Passengers
The Health Ministry said that it is mandatory for all passengers travelling from the United Kingdom to India from January 8 to 31 to get the self-paid RT-PCR test at the airport.

‘The Central government said that a total of 73 persons have been detected with the new UK coronavirus mutant strain, and they are being kept in physical isolation.’

Three such cases have been detected at the Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad, one at the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics in West Bengal and 30 in the National Institute of Virology, Pune.

According the Health Ministry, all these persons have been kept in single room isolation in designated Health Care facilities by respective state governments. Their close contacts have also been put under quarantine.

"Comprehensive contact tracing has been initiated for co-travellers, family contacts and others. Genome sequencing on other specimens is going on," the ministry said.

New Coronavirus Strain Detected in Kolkata Man After Return from the UK
New coronavirus strain found in the UK has been detected in a Kolkata resident who returned from London this month.

On December 29, a total of six UK returnees were found to be positive with the new variant genome. These were the first cases to be reported by the country that has the second highest number of cases after the US.

The tracing and testing was initiated after the UK announced that a newly identified strain of the virus was found in their population which is up to 70 percent more transmissible.

ICMR to Look at Disease's Seriousness Caused by UK COVID-19 Variant
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will now look at the disease's seriousness after six returnees from the UK were found to be carrying the new COVID variant, which is caused by the mutation.

The new UK variant has already been reported by Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore.

From November 25 to December 23 midnight, about 33,000 passengers disembarked at various Indian airports from UK. All these passengers are being tracked and subjected by states and UTs to RT-PCR tests.

UK Flights Banned in India Till January
Flights to and from the UK have been suspended till January 7 in the wake of the spread of the new fast-moving strain of the coronavirus mutant.

The Union Health Ministry further stated that the situation is under careful watch and regular advice is being provided to the states for enhanced surveillance, containment, testing and dispatch of samples to labs.

Source-IANS