Coronavirus News LIVE Updates: Reportedly, the patients' samples have been sent for genetic sequencing to find out whether it is a new strain of virus that has infected them
News LATEST Updates: Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar on Friday said so far 10 people who have come to the state from the UK have tested positive for and their samples have been sent for genetic sequencing to find out whether it is a new strain of virus that has infected them.
"Among the UK returnees according to information I have about 10 people have tested positive, all their samples have been sent to NIMHANS, two to three days are required for genetic sequencing, once that (report) is out we will get to know whether it is the second strain, and accordingly we will follow necessary procedures for treatment," he said.
Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant has asked the people, who have arrived in the state from the UK in the wake of a mutated strain found in that country, to remain isolated for some period even if they test negative for .
He said the state government was monitoring the health of the UK returnees.
"Those who have arrived from the UK recently should get themselves tested. Even if they test negative in the RT-PCR test, they should remain in isolation and get themselves tested again," Sawant told reporters on Thursday night.
With 24,661 new patients being cured of the virus, the total number of recoveries surged to 97,17,834 on Friday, said the Union health ministry. With this, the national recovery rate was pushed to 95.8 percent.
Dry run for vaccine administration will be conducted in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat and Punjab starting from next week, the government said.
India's caseload rose to 1,01,46,845 with 23,067 new infections being reported in a day, while recoveries have crossed the 97-lakh mark, said the Union health ministry.
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi on Thursday invited volunteers for the Phase 3 clinical trial of the indigenously developed vaccine candidate ''Covaxin'' for which it is one of the sites.
A UK-returned man in Dwarka area in Delhi has been found positive for and his family has been quarantined while tracing of others who came in contact with him was underway, officials said on Thursday.
Earlier, another person who recently arrived from the UK had tested positive in south east Delhi on Wednesday.
The district authorities have deployed teams to contact those who have returned from the UK in the past four weeks and ensure that they undergo RTPCR tests if they show any symptoms, said a senior government official.
"The passenger who was found positive in Dwarka area of South West district came to India from UK on 19 December," he said.
The patient was shifted to the special facility at the LNJP hospital here where genome testing will be conducted to identify the strain of the virus, he said.
His family members have been quarantined and those persons who came in contact with him are being traced, the officer said.
The passengers who have returned to India from the UK - where a mutated, highly infectious strain of the has emerged since 25 November - are being contacted and tested by the district-level teams.
Total 85 persons in south west Delhi who returned from the UK in the past few weeks have to undergo RTPCR tests. Test analysis of 38 out of 52 who were tested was available, officials said.
In north east Delhi, all the nine persons who came back from the UK between 25 November and 21 December underwent RTPCR tests and were found negative.
In west Delhi, 55 such persons were tested and all were negative, they said.
Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain said on Wednesday that tracing and testing of all those who travelled to Delhi from the UK in the past two weeks will be ensured.
"Delhi government is aware, and all the people who have travelled from the UK to Delhi in the past two weeks will be traced, tested and advised quarantine," he had said in a statement.
The authorities have enhanced monitoring of the city's residents who returned in the past few weeks from the UK to prevent any violation of home isolation, Delhi government officials said on Wednesday.
Teams of health department and civil defence volunteers have been deployed at the district-level to keep watch on those persons who returned from the UK in the last two weeks and tested negative but have to undergo home isolation.
The government has set up a separate facility at the LNJP hospital for those passengers from UK who are found -positive in RTPCR tests conducted at IGI airport, for their treatment and genomic testing, officials said.
Besides, a five star hotel in Aerocity near the airport has been earmarked as a paid quarantine facility, while a Covid care centre in south Delhi will serve as a free institutional isolation facility for passengers from flights in which positive cases are detected, they said.
Those passengers who have returned from the UK in the past few weeks and have been found negative will undergo two weeks home isolation followed by another two weeks period under observation, officials said.
