With 2,127 persons having arrived from the U.K. in Karnataka from December 1 till date, the State Health Department is faced with the mammoth task of monitoring their health status and tracing their contacts.
According to data from the Health Department, the samples of 233 passengers have been collected for tests so far. Of the 2,127, as many as 1,696 have landed in Bengaluru. A total of 179 samples have been collected from Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural and BBMP limits. Of these, the highest are from the East zone with 48 persons followed by 38 from Bommanahalli zone.
While 119 are from Mysuru and 58 are from Mangaluru, 31 and 29 are from Dharwad and Udupi, respectively. Apart from the 179 samples collected from Bengaluru Urban, Rural, and BBMP limits, as many as 13 samples have been collected from Mangaluru and eight from Tumakuru.
Meanwhile, sources said two persons — a 36-year-old mother and six-year-old daughter from Vasanthapura ward in Bommanahalli zone, who landed in the city on December 19 and did not have a COVID-19 negative report — have tested positive through Rapid Antigen Test (RAT). Their RT-PCR reports are awaited.
“After their report arrives, the samples will undergo genome sequencing to ascertain if the patients have been infected with the new strain. The reports will be sent to NIV, Pune, for validation,” sources said adding that the mother and daughter have been shifted to Victoria Hospital.
Health Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey told The Hindu that so far international travellers without a COVID-19 negative report were mandated to undergo 14 days home quarantine. “Those who arrived with a COVID-19 negative report had no quarantine. Those who came without a COVID-19 negative report before the Centre announced a ban on UK flights are being traced and tested,” he said.
Meanwhile, the State’s COVID-19 Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) discussed the new variant of SARS-CoV-2 circulating in the U.K. and its possible impact in the State.
TAC members, who were of the view that there should be no lapses in contact tracing, said the Health Department had done really well in terms of contact tracing in the initial months. “Contact tracing should be taken up with the same zeal now also,” a member said.
“The Centre’s Standard Operating Protocols (SOPs) should be followed strictly and all efforts should be made to ensure that the new strain does not wreak havoc in the State. Now at a time when the State is seeing a substantial decline in the number of cases, we cannot afford to see another surge. The new strain is highly contagious,” the member said.
Another member recalled that in the initial months the infection had spread through foreign returnees as only thermal scanning was done at airports.
Meanwhile, the Department has on Tuesday issued guidelines on preventive measures to be followed in markets across the State to contain the spread. This is based on SOPs issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
