So far, 59 new cases has been recorded, taking the number of covid infections in passengers back from Britain rose to 119 nationwide since last Sunday.
Even though the strain of the virus is yet to be identified, the state government is not taking any chances.
The National Task Force on Covid-19 has recommended that as part of “prospective surveillance”, 5% of positive cases from all states and UTs be tested for whole-genome sequencing to check for the presence of the “UK strain” that is seen to have a higher degree of infectiousness.
He said the man's samples have been sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune to check for the mutated strain of the coronavirus.
With this, the number of people testing positive for the disease after returning from the UK has gone up to 21 in the national capital. All of them returned from the UK after November 25.
Health Minister K K Shailaja said on Saturday that samples of eight returnees were found positive for COVID-19 and their samples have been sent to NIV for further tests.
The authorities have received a list of total 44 passengers, who returned to Aurangabad from the UK, a district official said in a statement issued late on Friday night.
The number of people who have recuperated from coronavirus touched 97,40,108 with 22,274 new discharges in the last 24 hours, while the country's death toll is now at 1,47,343.
According to him, details relating to this second strain are still being deliberated and according to initial studies, another strain of this virus discovered in South Africa is far more severe than the one found in the UK.
According to the new guidelines issued, the state government said that the passengers will not be subjected to RT-PCR test for coronavirus immediately upon arrival.
In the wake of detection of a new COVID-19 variant in the UK, Goa health authorities are trying to track down 602 people who arrived in the state from Britain and the UAE since December 9, an official said on Thursday. The maximum number of people who have arrived from these two places are expected to be in Cansualim area of South Goa district, predominantly a beach destination.
A 28-year-old man in Nagpur, who tested positive for COVID-19 on December 15, is suspected of carrying the new strain of COVID-19 found in the United Kingdom. As per Dr Avinash Gawande, Superintendent, Government Medical College Nagpur, the patient, who returned from the UK on November 29, was tested at the airport on arrival but was found COVID-19 negative at the time.
The new strain of COVID-19 found in Britain is reported to be spreading rapidly and is said to be highly infectious.
The total active cases in the country stand at 2,83,849 which comprises 2.80 % of the total caseload, the data stated. The total discharged cases stand at 96,93,173 with 29,791 new discharges in the last 24 hours.
Singapore has confirmed its first case of the new coronavirus variant found in the United Kingdom. The strain was found among 31 cases from Europe, who arrived in Singapore between Nov. 17 and Dec. 17 and were confirmed to have COVID-19 this month.
The man returned to the state on December 18 amid concerns over the detection of a mutated and more infectious strain of COVID-19 in the European country, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner P C Chaudhury said.
The United Kingdom is hit by new coronavirus strain, prompting many countries including India to shut the operations of flights.
British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc said that it's Covid-19 vaccine should be effective against the new coronavirus variant and added that studies were under way to fully probe the impact of the mutation.
The faster-spreading coronavirus strain first detected in the UK is unlikely to make vaccines less effective as of now but the preventives may need to be appropriately altered if more mutations occur over time, say scientists.
A passenger who arrived in Chennai from London via Delhi has tested positive for coronavirus and genomes from his sample would be analysed to see if it matched with the new strain of the pathogen detected in the United Kingdom, a senior official said on Tuesday.
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