At least 20 passengers flying to India from the United Kingdom tested positive for Coronavirus on December 22, 2020, as the Indian government issued new strict new SOPs. It makes RT-PCR tests mandatory at all the airports for each traveler from the UK as well as isolation in an institutional facility for the positive patients in view of the new COVID-19 strain.
According to V.K. Paul, NITI Aayog member, the new strain of Coronavirus that has been reported in the United Kingdom seems to increase the infection rates and transmissibility. However, he added, that the mutation so far has not affected the severity and case fatality of the disease.
Mutation not detected in India:
The member of NITI Aayog, V.K. Paul while addressing a press conference in Delhi stated that the mutation has not yet been detected in India and that it will not impact the potential of developing vaccines in India or internationally. He added that there is no cause for concern or for panic as of now and we just need to stay vigilant.
20 passengers on direct flights from the UK tests positive:
Out of the 20 flyers who have been tested positive for Covid, 6 were on the flight that landed in Delhi at 11.30 pm on December 21, four were on the flight that arrived in Ahmedabad, two on the flight that arrived in Kolkata, and eight which also includes the crew member in Amritsar. All the mentioned flights were direct Air India flights that had arrived from London.
As per the official, five passengers were found Corona positive at the airport of Delhi, and one other passenger who had taken a connecting flight to Chennai was tested there and was found to be positive.
Dr. Gauri Aggarwal from the Genestrings Diagnostic Centre which has been handling the Corona testing in Delhi airport informed that all the passengers from London were being tested and the positive samples were being sent to the National Centre for Disease Control for research on the new strain with the use of next-gen sequencing technology.
According to West Bengal’s Health and Family Welfare Department, the flyers who were sitting next to the two passengers who tested positive for COVID will be told to be in-home isolation for two weeks.
Testing and tracing of passengers as per new guidelines:
As per the new guidelines released by the government, several hundred passengers have been tested at various airports. Because of the volume of passengers, the process takes many hours which results in confusion and chaos at several airports, including Mumbai, Delhi, and Kolkata.
Rajesh Bhushan, Health Secretary had detailed the new guidelines not just for those who have been arriving from the UK till the travel ban comes into force, but also for those passengers who came from or through London from November 25 to December 23, 2020.
According to Rajesh Bhushan, the list will be shared with the UTs and states so that the samples are collected for the test. He mentioned that contact tracing will be done only in positive cases.
He also added that passengers who came from London between December 21 to 23 will go through the RT-PCR testing on arrival and in case the sample is positive, it has been recommended that the spike gene-based RT-PCR test must be performed by an appropriate laboratory.
Health Ministry releases SOPs for the new mutated variant of Corona:
The Standard Operating Procedures were released by the Ministry of Health on December 22, 2020, for the response and surveillance to the newly discovered mutated variant of Coronavirus in the UK.
Union Health Ministry issues Standard Operating Procedure for epidemiological surveillance and response in the context of new variant of SARS-CoV-2 virus detected in the United Kingdom. pic.twitter.com/S1O72rVsdr
— ANI (@ANI) December 22, 2020
The guidelines released by the ministry have mandated that if the genome sequencing of the positive Corona patient indicates the presence of a new mutated variant of SARS-CoV-2, then the patient will have to remain in a separate isolation unit as the necessary treatment according to the existing protocol is given to them.
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