Fourteen More UK Returnees Tests COVID-19 With New Variant, Total At 20

On the 30th of December, the Union Health Ministry confirmed 14 new cases of the Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19 with the new variant.

The United Kingdom (U.K.,) returnees are undergoing mandatory COVID-19 tests.

The samples of those returnees are being tested at Indian Sars-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (Insacog) labs. With this, nearly 20 people are positive with the new strain of COVID-19 found in the U.K., as 6 tested positive for the new strain on the 29th of December.

The samples have so far been sequenced in seven of the 10 designated labs across India.

The designated 10 Insacog labs are: National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG,) Kolkata, Institute of Life Science (ILS) Bhubaneswar, National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune, College of Computer Sciences (CCS) Pune, Centre for Cellular Molecular Biology (CCMB) Hyderabad, Centre for DNA Fingerprint Diagnostic (CDFD) Hyderabad, Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative (InSTEM) Bengaluru, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) Bengaluru, Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) Delhi, National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) Delhi.

Seven samples tested positive in NIMHANS, Bengaluru, two in CCMB, Hyderabad and one in NIV, Pune, eight in NCDC, Delhi, one in IGIB, Delhi and one in NIBG, Kalyani (West Bengal.)

All the infected people are now in isolation and their fellow travellers and close contacts are being traced and quarantined.

Genome sequencing on other samples is currently going on.

The Union Health Ministry released a statement regarding the same. The statement read, “All these persons have been kept in single room isolation at designated health care facilities by respective state governments and their close contacts have also been put under quarantine.”

In addition, to curb the spread of the new Coronavirus variant in India, the Union Government suspended flights to U.K., and from U.K., from the 23rd of December till the 31st of December. However, passengers traveling from U.K., to India before the 23rd of December, are being observed closely and are subjected by states to RT PCR tests for Coronavirus infection.

Speaking of the current situation due to the new strain in India, the Union Health Ministry, said, “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 Insacog labs.”

Besides India, the new variant from the U.K., has been reported in Denmark, Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore.