Kerala on Monday became the latest state to report cases of passengers travelling from the United Kingdom who had been infected with the new strain of COVID-19 believed to be more transmissible.
Six UK returnees from Kerala have tested positive for the new strain of the virus. "Six people who recently returned from the UK have tested positive for the new strain,” Health Minister K K. Shailaja said, adding that they had been placed under isolation and observation.
The minister ruled out the possibility of imposing a new lockdown, calling for self-lockdown instead. Speaking of the unlock measures, she said, "These measures were announced only to restore livelihoods. Sustaining the lockdown would have affected survival...but use it [the new freedom] only sparingly. The virus spread has not dropped. Step out of your homes only if it is absolutely necessary. Avoid crowds and adhere to social distancing norms,” she said.
While two persons each from Alappuzha and Kozhikode have tested positive for the new variant, Kottayam and Kannur districts have reported one case each, she said.
In Maharashtra, eight UK returnees were found to have had the new strain. “Out of 4,000 returnees from the UK, 43 people have tested positive for COVID-19, out of which eight have the new variant," state Health Minister Rajesh Tope said in a televised message, citing results of their swab samples.
Of these, five are from Mumbai and one each from Pune, Thane and Mira Bhayandar, he said, adding contacts of all the COVID-19 patients with the UK strain are being traced.
"The protocol to treat them is different and they have been isolated from the other COVID-19 patients," he said.
The new coronavirus variant found in the UK is said to 70 per cent more infectious than the first one. However, it is not known to be more deadly—and current vaccines are believed to be effective against it.
"Asymptomatic patients have been advised 14-day strict quarantine while those with compromised immunity such as (people with) diabetes and high blood pressure, among others, 21 days of quarantine, said the state health minister.
On Monday, the Union Health Ministry said a total of 38 people had tested positive for the new UK variant of SARS-CoV-2 in India, which includes the 29 cases which were announced till Friday.
All these people have been kept in single room isolation in designated healthcare facilities by respective state governments and their close contacts have also been put under quarantine, the ministry said.
Of the 38, the mutated UK strain was detected in eight samples at National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), New Delhi, 11in theInstitute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi,one in the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG), Kalyani (near Kolkata), five in the National Institute of Virology in Pune, three inCentre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB)in Hyderabad and 10 were sequenced at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences Hospital (NIMHANS), Bengaluru.
Kerala’s samples had been sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune.
The NCBS, InSTEM in Bengaluru, CDFD in Hyderabad, ILS in Bhubaneswar and NCCS in Pune have so far found no UK mutant virus, the ministry said.
Genome sequencing on other specimens is going on, it added.
“The situation is under careful watch and regular advice is being provided to the states for enhanced surveillance, containment, testing and dispatch of samples to INSACOG labs," the ministry stated.
The positive COVID-19 samples are being tested at 10 INSACOG labs (NIBMG Kolkata, ILS Bhubaneswar, NIV Pune, NCCS Pune, CCMB Hyderabad, CDFD Hyderabad, InSTEM Bengaluru, NIMHANS Bengaluru, IGIB Delhi and NCDC Delhi) for genome sequencing.
On Saturday, the ICMR announced that India had become the first country to successfully culture the new strain. "UK-variant of the virus, with all signature changes, is now successfully isolated and cultured at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) from the clinical specimens collected from UK-returnees," the ICMR said.
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.
The government of India took cognizance of the reports of virus reported from the UK and put in place a proactive and preventive strategy to detect and contain the mutant variant, it said.
This strategy includes temporary suspension of all flights coming from the UK with effect from the midnight of December 23 till January 7 and mandatory testing of all UK-returned air passengers through RT-PCR test.
The samples of all UK-returnees found positive in RT-PCR test will be genome sequenced by a consortium of 10 government labs - INSACOG.
Further, all the international passengers who have arrived in India between December 9 to 22, if symptomatic and tested positive for COVID-19, will be subjected to genome sequencing as part of the Centre's strategy to detect the mutated UK variant in them.
Others will be followed up by the respective state and district surveillance officers and will be tested as per ICMR guidelines (even if asymptomatic)between fifth and tenth day, according to the Union Health Ministry's guidance document on genomic sequencing.
Further, epidemiological surveillance of the passengers, who have arrived in India since November 23 will be conducted in the community through active follow up.
Besides, standard operating protocol for states and Union Territories to tackle the mutant variant of SARS-CoV-2 was issued on December 22.
With inputs from PTI