Amid declining cases, the new and more infectious coronavirus strain has entered Uttar Pradesh. A two-year-old girl in Meerut has been found infected with the mutated COVID-19 strain.
The girl returned from London with her parents and her sample was sent to Delhi for investigation. After this, the health department of the entire state has come into alert mode.
The family came back from London recently after which, its COVID-19 test was conducted. The parents came out negative, but the report of the girl came positive. Apart from the girl, three other people had also returned from London, whose report also came positive. All samples were sent to Delhi for investigation where the new coronavirus strain was confirmed in the samples of the girl.
As a precaution, a sample of the kid's uncle and aunt has also been sent to Delhi. Additionally, samples of two more coronavirus infected patients have been sent to the national capital. The administration is on alert after the developments in the Sant Vihar Colony of Meerut.
About 200 people in the entire colony are to be tested for coronavirus. At the same time, antigen tests of 100 people have been conducted, in which reports of 70 people have come out negative. The entire area has been blocked.
Notably, in the last few days, about 90 passengers have returned from London. The new virus strain found in Britain is more infectious and can spread about 70 percent faster than before. Amid the continuing pandemic, the new strain has caused a stir as it is reported to be more transmissible. The variant has now been detected in multiple countries around the world.
On Tuesday, the government announced that a total of six UK returnees have been found to be positive with the new variant genome.
India has put in place a pro-active and preventive strategy to detect and contain the mutant variant of the virus, which includes a temporary suspension of flights coming from the UK from the midnight of December 23 till December 31. It also includes mandatory testing of all UK returnee air passengers through RT-PCR test.