6 mutated Covid-19 cases from UK detected in India; put under isolation & contact-traced

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in its release on Tuesday said that a total of 6 samples of UK returnees have been found to be positive for the new mutant UK COVID-19 strain that is believed to be more infectious. Out of these 6 positive Coronavirus cases, 3 samples were detected in NIMHANS Bengaluru, 2 in CCMB Hyderabad and 1 in NIV Pune. The Health Ministry further said that the government has taken cognizance of the reports of the new virus strain and has put in place a "pro-active and preventive" strategy to detect and contain the spread of the virus.

Health Ministry said, "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 contract tracing has been initiated for co-travellers, family contacts and others. Genome sequencing on other specimens is going on."

Besides India, the new UK Coronavirus variant has already been reported by Denmark, Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore. The 6 new strain-infections are out of 114 positive cases from 33,000 returnees from the UK since Nov 25. India suspended flights from the UK on December 23.

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MHA extends Coronavirus guidelines till Jan 31

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday extended the existing COVID control guidelines till January 31, 2021. While noting that there has been a continuous decline in active cases in India, MHA said, "There is need to maintain surveillance, containment and caution, keeping in view the surge in cases globally, and the emergence of a new variant of the virus in the United Kingdom (UK)," the Ministry of Home Affairs stated."

"Accordingly, containment zones continue to be demarcated carefully; prescribed containment measures strictly followed within these zones; Covid-appropriate behaviour promoted and strictly enforced, and the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) prescribed in respect of various permitted activities followed scrupulously," the Ministry said. 

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Emphasising the need to enforce a focussed approach ton surveillance and containment and a strict observance of the guidelines and SOPs issued by it and the Health Ministry, MHA said that the states and UTs can impose local restrictions like night curfew to check the spread of Coronavirus but also made it clear that they will have to consult the Centre before imposing a lockdown outside the containment zones.

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COVID-19 outbreak in India

As the world continues to battle against the Coronavirus pandemic, India so far has recorded over 1,02,07,871 positive cases, out of which 97,82,669 have successfully recovered while 1,47,901 have died. According to the latest updates from MoHFW, in the past 24 hours, 20,021 new cases, 21,131 fresh recoveries and 279 deaths have been reported. Currently, the total number of active COVID-19 cases in the country is 2,77,301. 

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