On Tuesday, a government official informed that six people aboard were diagnosed with the Wuhan Coronavirus after they landed in Delhi from London on Monday night via an Air India flight.
The development comes after the United Kingdom warned against the emergence of a new strain of the Wuhan Coronavirus in the country. As per reports, 5 people had tested Coronavirus positive at the Delhi airport. However, one passenger who came from London took a connecting flight to Chennai and was diagnosed with the infection there.
While speaking about the development, Health Secretary (Tamil Nadu) J Radhakrishnan informed, “We are testing for COVID-19 passengers of flights originating or halting in the UK. One such passenger tested positive yesterday.” He emphasised that it was ‘incorrect’ to assume that the patient was infected with the newly discovered strain of Coronavirus.
We are also identifying the people who travelled to UK in the last 10 days & ensuring they all test negative in RT-PCR testing: Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan
— ANI (@ANI) December 22, 2020
A new strain of coronavirus has been found in the UK. https://t.co/OqctNzgWh3
“We will send his samples to the National Institute of Virology, Pune. We are also identifying the people who travelled to the UK in the last 10 days & ensuring they all test negative in RT-PCR testing,” he stated.
UK discovers new strain of Coronavirus
As per reports, the authorities have conceded that the virus has gone ‘out of control’ in the UK. “Unfortunately the new strain was out of control. We have got to get it under control,” informed UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock. The new variant, discovered in September, is said to be 70% more transmissible than its counterpart.
“There is no current evidence to suggest (it) causes a higher mortality rate or that it affects vaccines and treatments, although urgent work is underway to confirm this, “chief medical officer Chris Whitty emphasised. A notification was thus issued by the Public Health England on Friday to the UK government after modelling the said virus strain. The new strain has reportedly been discovered in South Africa, Denmark, Netherlands and Australia.
India suspends UK flights temporarily
Yesterday, the Indian government has decided to temporarily suspend all flights originating from the UK to India till 31st December. “Considering the prevailing situation in the UK, Indian govt has decided that all flights originating from the UK to India shall be temporarily suspended till 11:59 pm, 31st December. This suspension to start w.e.f. 11.59 pm, 22nd December,” a tweet posted by the Ministry of Civil Aviation said.