Bhopal locates 64 people with UK travel history

The number of people with travel history to the UK doubled overnight, with 64 people now contact-traced by the Madhya Pradesh health department in Bhopal.

According to top health department officials, 40 more people with recent travel history to the UK were traced in Bhopal on Thursday.
“Twenty of the 60 are being traced. It is believed that these people have moved to other cities or returned to the UK,” an official said.

On Wednesday, 20 people with UK travel history underwent RT-PCR Covid-19 test. They had returned to India between December 6 and 21. On Thursday, 20 more samples were collected.

“We expect the RT-PCR reports to be available by late Thursday night. If anyone is found to be positive, a gene sequencing test will be conducted to see if they have the mutant variant (VUI–202012/011) of Covid-19,” the official added.

The big four cities have most UK returnees

The mutated strain of the virus is a ‘superspreader’ as it is up to 70% more transmissible than the previously dominant strain in the UK.
“People with travel history to the UK have been traced to 19-districts of Madhya Pradesh,” said a health department official. Most of them are from Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, and Gwalior. The other districts — Ujjain, Shivpuri, Sehore, Satna, Sagar, Rewa, Ratlam, Rajgarh, Morena, Mandsaur, Khargone, Hoshangabad, Dewas, Dhar, and Guna — have UK travelers in the single digit.