A total of 107 samples have undergone genome sequencing till now
Fourteen more cases of new mutant coronavirus strain, which was first reported in the United Kingdom, have been registered in India, the government said on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, India had recorded the first six cases of the new strain as people who returned from the UK tested positive. All these persons have been kept in single room isolation in designated health care facilities. The mutated variant of SARS-CoV-2, first detected in the UK, is said to be 70 per cent more infectious.
Of the 20 cases, eight have been registered at National Centre for Disease Control in Delhi, 7 at National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences in Bangalore, two at Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad.
One each has been logged at National Institute of Biomedical Genomics near Kolkata, National Institute of Virology in Pune and CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology in Delhi.
A two-year-old girl in Meerut has also tested positive for the new strain, said Meerut's Chief Medical Officer Akhilesh Mohan.
The parents of the two-year-old though Covid positive, however, have been found to be infected with the mutant. They had all returned from the UK, the health officials in Meerut said. The child is in an isolation ward with her parents at Meerut's Subharti Medical College.
A total of 107 samples have undergone genome sequencing till now.
All international passengers who arrived in India during the 14 days, from December 9 to December 22, if symptomatic and tested positive, will be subjected to genome sequencing in a bid to find if they have the new UK coronavirus strain.
Others will be followed up by the respective states and district surveillance officers and tested as per ICMR guidelines, even if asymptomatic, between the 5th and 10th day, according to the Union Health Ministry's guidance document on genomic sequencing.
"All the international passengers who have arrived in India during last 14 days (from 9th December to 22nd December 2020), if symptomatic and tested positive will be subjected to genome sequencing," it stated.
Besides this, ten regional labs have been identified by the Centre where states and Union Territories will send five per cent of their COVID-19 positive samples for genome sequencing to detect the new coronavirus variant.
Between November 25 and December 23, about 33,000 passengers disembarked at various Indian airports from the UK. “All these passengers are being tracked and subjected by states/UTs to RT-PCR tests. So far only 114 have been found positive for COVID-19,” the health ministry had said.
The British government had recently announced that the newly identified strain of the virus found in their population is up to 70 per cent more transmissible.
It is important to note that the presence of the new UK Variant has already been reported by Denmark, Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore.
Few days back, the Indian government had taken cognizance of the reports of mutant variant of SARS-CoV-2 virus reported from the UK and put in place a proactive and preventive strategy to detect and contain the mutant variant. It included temporary suspension of all flights coming from the UK with effect from the midnight of December 23 till 31.
(With inputs from agency)
Keep scrolling to read more news
Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and apps to get latest updates.
Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@middayinfomedialtd) and stay updated with the latest news