New Delhi: India on Tuesday reported the presence of UK mutant COVID (SARS- CoV-2) virus in the country as six UK returnees have tested for carrying virus of mutant strain.
From 25th November to 23rd December, about 33,000 passengers have landed at various Indian airports from UK. So far 114 have been found COVID positive. While 6 were found infected with mutant strain.
The national genome consortium set up to track mutations said “A total of 6 samples of 6 UK returnee persons have been found to be positive with the SARS- CoV-2 virus. 3 in NIMHANS, Bengaluru, 2 in CSIR Institute Centre for Cellular Biology, Hyderabad and 1 in NIV, Pune.
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, further revealed.
