JAIPUR: Five persons, who returned to Rajasthan from the UK in December, have been tested positive for Covid-19. Their samples have been taken and sent to
National Institute of Virology for examining their genome sequencing or spike gene sequencing to test for the new more
contagious strain of
Covid-19 found in the UK.
A
health department official said, “More than 300 persons who have returned from the UK in November and December were tested for Covid-19. Out of those, five have tested positive for Covid-19. Three are in Udaipur and one each in Ajmer and Jalore.”
All the five persons, who had flown in from the UK to the state, have been quarantined. “We have taken their samples and completing the process of sending them to National Insitute of Virology, Pune to find out the strain of Covid-19 which infected them,” the official said.
In Ajmer, a 20-year-old girl was found infected with Covid-19. “She came here on December 14 from the UK. Her sample has been collected and sent to Pune for finding the new strain of virus,” said Dr K K Soni, chief medical health officer (CMHO), Ajmer.
However, in Jalore, one person was found infected with the virus. “He reached here on December 7 after landing at Delhi from the UK,” said Dr
Gajendra Singh Deval, CMHO, Jalore.
In Jaipur, samples of 76 persons returned from the UK in November and December were tested for Covid-19. “Out of 76 samples, we have received report of 37 persons and all of them have tested negative for Covid-19,” said Dr Narrottam Sharma, CMHO, Jaipur.
A lot of reports of samples tested for Covid-19 are still awaited and expected to arrive on Sunday. The health department is closely monitoring the health of the people who have returned from the UK in November and December. The teams of the health department are tracking them. In Jaipur, 30 persons who have returned from the UK have not been found. The health authorities in Jaipur have informed the health directorate.