India Reports 6 Positive Cases of Mutant Virus Strain From UK Returnees.

Six UK returnees to India test positive for the new mutant virus strain

Six people in India who recently travelled from the United Kingdom have been found positive of the mutant strain of coronavirus that had first surfaced in the UK. The new strain is considered to be 70% more infectious than the previous one but experts suggest that it is not very deadly and can be controlled by the existing vaccines. Out of the six cases that tested positive, three patients are in NIMHANS, Bengaluru, two in Center for Cellular & Molecular Biology, Hyderabad and one in National Institute of Virology, Pune.

Various state governments have designated health care facilities where every patient has been kept in single room isolation and people who have been in close contact with them have been put under quarantine and for the co-travelers, family contacts and others comprehensive contact tracing has begun. Between November 25 and December 23 around 33,000 passengers had arrived from the UK and of them all 114 tested positive of the coronavirus.

A statement from the government read that “The situation is under careful watch and regular advice is being provided to the states for enhanced surveillance, containment, and dispatch of samples to INSACOG labs.” It added that the genome sequencing for the other specimen is on.

Several countries which include Denmark, Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore have detected the new UK strain of the virus. India too suspended flights to and from the UK on December 21 after the detection of the new strain and the restriction on flights continues till December 31.