Since Pune does not have any direct flight to the UK, most incoming passengers fly to Mumbai and then travel to Pune by road. In view of the threat from the new variant of COVID-19 strain, medical checkups have been made mandatory for travellers coming from Europe, South Africa and the Middle East, said resident deputy collector Dr Jayshree Katare.
A night curfew from 11 pm to 6 am has been declared until January 5, 2021 in all municipal corporation areas of Pune.
The potentially more contagious variant, called 501.V2, was detected in South Africa earlier this month. It was discovered through routine genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 performed by the Network for Genomic Surveillance, South Africa.
Earlier, after the identification of a new variant in the UK that was potentially more virulent, local authorities started collecting information about persons who have returned from the UK between November 25 (when the new strain was first spotted in the UK) and December 22, when flights from the country were banned.
As per the district administration, a total of 512 persons who had returned to Pune from the UK between November 25 and December 23 have so far been identified from the data received from various airlines and four have been found to have the strain.
Since Pune does not have any direct flight to the UK, most incoming passengers fly to Mumbai and then travel to Pune by road.