COVID-19: Six UK returnees found positive for new UK variant genome

A total of 6 people who travelled to India from the United Kingdom recently have tested positive for new UK variant genome, the health ministry said on Tuesday.

"Samples of 3 UK returnees have been tested & found positive for new UK strain in NIMHANS, Bengaluru, two in Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad & one in National Institute of Virology, Pune. All 6 people have been kept in single room isolation," stated the Health Ministry.

Between November 25 & December 23, about 33,000 passengers disembarked at various Indian airports from UK. All these passengers are being tracked & subjected by states/UTs to RT-PCR tests. So far only 114 have been found positive for COVID-19, said the Union Health Ministry

Three samples of the UK returnees were to the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (Nimhans) for genome sequencing test. Nimhans is one of the 10 institutes selected by the Health Ministry to conduct these tests.

Genome sequencing is a time consuming process of at least three to four days. "The new strain of the virus found in the UK has 14 mutations; so genome sequencing tests take some time," said a health ministry official.

Samples of 3 UK returnees have been tested & found positive for new UK strain in NIMHANS, Bengaluru, two in Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad & one in National Institute of Virology, Pune. All 6 people have been kept in single room isolation: Health Ministry https://t.co/tgrWYLKh2G

— ANI (@ANI) December 29, 2020