20 UK returnees test positive for new COVID-19 strain

At least 20 people who have returned from the United Kingdom to India have tested positive for the new ‘more infectious’ coronavirus strain.

Confirming this, the Health Ministry said that apart from the six positive cases found on December 29, these cases have been reported from person in Delhi and Bengaluru. The persons have been isolated, said the Ministry.

The Indian government has become alert after the new fast-spreading Covid strain was discovered in the UK.The Ministry is also planning to extend the ban on flights from the UK.

It also stepped up testing in airports. But testing people who have specifically returned from the UK may not be enough as the new Covid strain has also spread in many other countries like United States, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy and Sweden.

The health Ministry in India has now decided to test five percent of all passengers for the new Covid-19 variant.

“This particular virus strain may have its own run- it has travelled to many countries – so we have to be very careful. Initially, it is easy to suppress the spread of the virus because the chain of transmission is smaller,” Dr VK Paul, a member of the Niti Aayog, said.

The new SARS –CoV-2 is believed to be 70 percent more transmissible than the older strain but less lethal, according to scientists. Experts said that people need to take same precautions for the new virus strain and added that the vaccines currently in development will be effective against the new strain as well.